


For the Love of Football

by therestisjustconfetti



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, eventual smut? of course, it combines two things I love and I couldn't get the idea out of my head, players on rival teams to friends to lovers and everything inbetween, this is the womens football au that no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29165247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therestisjustconfetti/pseuds/therestisjustconfetti
Summary: When Dani finds out that one of the top football clubs in England wants her to come and play for them in the upcoming season, she jumps at the chance to cross the pond and play abroad. She's quickly thrust into a whole new world of the game and discovers that the captain of her club's top London rival might just be the biggest distraction she's ever come up against as a player.
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 136
Kudos: 156





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I know this idea might seem a bit wild but I love Dani and Jamie and I love women's football. What could be better than bringing two things you love together? I enjoyed writing this first chapter and if people are into it, I’ll keep it going. Once this idea popped into my head, I had to give it a shot even though it’s so different from anything else I’ve written on here. 
> 
> Drop me a comment and tell me what you think - tell me if you hate it or love it. It might be terrible and just too different! I want to know!
> 
> Hope you enjoy! x

Intimidating. That’s what it is. So, so intimidating. The offer had come through on a Sunday afternoon while Dani was at the gym and she didn’t believe it at first. One of the clubs in the top women's league in England wanted her to play for them? Sure, she had enjoyed quite a successful playing career so far in the states, not a star by any means, but a good player on a good team. England was never something she felt she was qualified for. She never imagined her name even crossing the minds of a club abroad and not just any club, one of the top clubs in London. Her name had crossed the minds of a club in England and she really didn't know what to think at first.

“You’re sure it wasn’t just a spam email?” she had asked her agent, to which they vehemently denied. No, it was real and they wanted her ASAP before the summer transfer window closed so she could join them at the tail end of pre-season a few weeks before the season kicked off in the fall.

It was one of the easiest decisions she’s ever made in her life. A chance for something new, a breath of fresh air, a perfectly timed opportunity to slip away from a relationship she was never committed to and never would be, a life that didn’t feel like her own anymore. Sometimes she thinks it never did. She had worked her fucking ass off to get to where she is, to play at her level. There was blood, sweat, and a lot of tears but it's the game she had loved to play since she was a kid and now she had the opportunity to play that game in the place known for being great. The contract was for a year with the option to extend if she performed well and when her current club agreed to end her contract 6 months early after finding out about a hefty transfer fee, she signed her name on the dotted line and began planning her life across the pond. There were people around her who didn’t want her to go but after spending so much of her life doing everything she could do to be as good as she now is, she would never let the opinion of someone else keep her from truly taking a chance. 

_I get to play soccer in England. Wait. No,_ she has to keep telling herself. _Football. Not soccer. Do not call it soccer or they’ll look at you even more like the little blonde American who doesn’t belong._

When Dani arrives in London, a liaison for the club meets her at Heathrow airport then drops her off at the place she will come to call home so she can get settled before going to the club for press and photos. It’s a small flat, already furnished with the basics like a bed, sofa, and kitchen table, and it overlooks a section of quaint shops with a park just down the road. She drops her backpack on the ground and collapses onto the sofa, exhausted from the travel and the time difference that she knows will eventually hit her hard. But, she doesn’t have a lot of time to stop and relax because within an hour there's a knock on her door and she's out of the flat and on her way to the club. She does her best to keep her nerves at bay but it's hard to do when you have no idea what to expect. Her driver is friendly, pointing out some local landmarks and making small talk, asking questions about America and if she’s excited to be in London, to which she replies yes.

They drive for twenty minutes out of the big city area she was now living in and pull up in front of a big building with the club name on the side of it. She had spotted three or four fields as they had driven onto the grounds and the nerves simply grew more. She doesn’t realize until the car comes to a stop that she had been digging her fingernails into the palms of her clenched hands, a bad habit she’d had for years and one that comes and goes when she’s out of her element, and when she unclenches them her nails leave behind deep crescent moon shaped red marks. 

Breathe. In and out. You earned this. It’s a mantra floating through her head, repeating itself, cementing itself to memory. When the driver opens her door, she hops out of the car and is met by a group of people who work for the club and the flurry of accents overwhelms her slightly but everyone is friendly enough as they lead her around, giving her a tour of the facilities. They stop just outside the gym and a man in his 30’s with dark brown hair with a slightly graying beard and glasses walks out with a big smile on his face. She knows who he is, they had done a video chat after she signed her contract and his kind eyes stand out now as much as they had done over the internet.

“Ah, there she is. Dani Clayton, such a pleasure to meet you in person. We are so excited to have you here and I know the girls are looking forward to having you out on the pitch.”

Owen Sharma is a fairly unassuming man but he had brought the club to more success than they’d had in years and his calm personality and kind nature puts Dani at ease instantly. She had worked with many coaches over the span of her career and most of them had been hardened by years in the game, lost in the mindset that the only thing that matters is winning, the game itself, often pushing aside the importance of players as human beings. But Owen is different, people matter to him and the way he values the players as individuals had made a big impact on the club and the mentality everyone seemed to have. With him at the helm, the club had won a trophy the previous season but fell just short of the league title, losing it to their London rivals and one of the next biggest clubs in the league. 

He pulls her in for a hug and it’s a comforting embrace. Dani feels as if she’s somehow known him for years. When they pull away from one another, she smiles at him and he gently gives her shoulder a friendly squeeze. 

“I’m so excited to be here and I can’t wait to get started,” she says.

“Right then.” Owen claps his hands and looks at the people that had been leading Dani around the building. “I reckon we’re going to have our picture taken so I’ll let you go and get your kit, finish getting acquainted and all that and I’ll see you soon.”

The woman standing beside Dani, a tall redheaded woman dressed in the team training kit nods her head and Owen heads off in the opposite direction around a corner. She had introduced herself as Sophie when Dani had gotten out of the car, letting Dani know that she’s one of the people in charge of athlete engagement and content director.

“So, Dani, today we’ll get you set up with your kit and take some photos with Owen and some photos around the grounds and we’ll get a few videos for social media. There’s a training session this afternoon that you can sit in on and watch, meet the other girls and get an idea of things. We’ll try to wrap up as quickly as we can so you can get some rest, I’m sure you must be knackered.” 

“Oh,” Dani waves her off and shrugs. “I’m fine, I’ll sleep when I’m dead. Besides, they say it’s better to stay awake longer to kill jet lag, right? I’m ready to tackle as much as I can.”

It’s a bit of a lie. She is tired and fading fast but she hides it well, doing her best to live off the adrenaline now coursing through her veins. She’s desperate to soak up as much she can and knows the second she gets dropped back off at her flat, she’ll crash hard and fast but for now she keeps her eyes wide and her shoulders tall, ready to take on the world. 

After photos with Owen and video interviews for the club, Dani is led out onto the field where the team is training with Owen and their assistant coach. They’re running between poles and passing the ball from player to player as they round each one and Dani watches them, taking in their pace and agility and how strong their passes are - always landing perfectly at the other player's feet. She takes a seat on one of the benches and smiles at the fact that everyone, despite training hard, seems to be genuinely enjoying themselves. They’re laughing and supporting each other and the thing that stands out the most to Dani is how much fun it all seems to be. 

It had been a few years now since playing the game had felt particularly fun. Her focus had been on fitness and perfection because it was her team’s focus. Training was training and games were to be won, not lost. Train hard and win hard. The game, which she still loved, had lost a bit of its sparkle and had begun to feel more and more like a job she had to do and a little less like one she chose to do because of how much she enjoyed it and how happy it made her. 

One of the players runs over to the bench to grab their bottle of water and she smiles at Dani. She’s a short blonde woman who has her hair pulled up into a high and tight bun. When Dani had signed her contract, she had made it a point to watch some of the team's most recent games and interviews with different players. She knows who the woman is as she sits down beside her on the bench. She knows she’s not only one of the team’s best forwards, but the captain as well. She had broken the goal scoring record for the team in just a couple of months the season before and had been nominated for two different player of the year awards, winning one and losing the other to a defender on another team. 

“You must Dani.” She extends her hand for Dani to shake. “I’m Maisy.”

“I know,” Dani admits as she accepts the handshake. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

Maisy pops open her bottle of water and pours some into her mouth then wipes some sweat off her brow. “I saw a video of that goal you scored against Portland last year, what a bloody rocket that was. You’ve got one hell of a right foot, Dani.”

“Alright ladies, let’s take a five,” Owen says and all of the other girls sigh in relief, some make their way over to the bench while the others sit down on the grass where they had been standing. 

Dani doesn’t get a chance to thank Maisy for the compliment because Owen makes his way across the grass to her.

“Dani, we’re happy to see you out here. I told the team earlier that you’d be joining us this afternoon as a spectator.”

“Ey up, Dani. Welcome to the club!” 

“Buzzing to have you here, Dani!”

“Can’t wait to have another goal scorer joining me in the midfield!”

A flurry of kind words and welcomes come her way and they all sound a little different. No one sounds the same here and it’s something she’s already noticed, everyone with their own regional dialect and slight hinge to their voice. There are a couple of other international players with thicker accents whose first language isn’t English but she understands them nonetheless and they’re all friendly and welcoming with warm smiles and a positive energy that she can feel. 

All of the players make their way back out onto the pitch and Maisy gives Dani a pat on the back. “You’ll be out here with us on Wednesday, but get ready, we’re running the bleep test. Everyone’s favourite and totally unnecessary fitness drill.” She winks then runs back onto the field to join the rest of the team.

The rest of the day passes by in a bit of a blur for Dani and when her phone starts blowing up with notification after notification, she knows the club has posted her official singing photo, tagging her in all of the posts so she makes a point of posting the photo to her own accounts with a caption that states how excited she is to be in London. How proud she is to be involved with such a great club.

By the time she gets back to her flat, it’s gotten dark outside and she ventures out onto the street to get something to eat, settling on a burger and fries. Not the healthiest choice and not at all what she’d typically go for, usually sticking to a fairly strong and healthy diet but when you’re starving, you make exceptions. She sits down at the small kitchen table in her flat to eat and pulls up her social media apps, reading through some of the comments her posts have received. Mostly positive, some negative, a lot of comments left by people shouting about the club needing to sign new male players. The women's club has its own account but men will always find a way to discredit them. She scrolls through the club page and sees a post with a schedule for their opening few games of the season, the first being against their biggest rivals and current league champions who are no doubt hungry for another win. She clicks on the club’s name and the app takes her to their account. The first image she sees is a photo of a brunette with striking features and stoney blue eyes - the club’s captain, Jamie Taylor.

A midfielder just like Dani, Jamie stands with her arms crossed in her full team kit with the captain's armband around her upper arm. Dani had known for a long time that she was attracted to women...and only women, a huge shock to her longtime boyfriend who said he had been planning to propose when she broke the news. Her mother had a handful of choice words to say when Dani had sat her down and told her but luckily, for her own peace of mind, she didn’t have to deal with the aftermath of coming out to them because she was on a plane to the other side of the world just a few days later. 

She knows that in the women's game, sexuality doesn’t matter and many of her former teammates and her new ones are in same-sex relationships. It’s normal, accepted, and even common for teammates to be dating. That didn’t mean it made it easier for her to combat her own fear and internalized homophobia but she had finally done it and she was proud of herself. In so many ways. 

The image of Jamie staring right down the barrel of the camera lens stirs something inside of Dani and she can’t help herself as she clicks through to Jamie’s own account. Jamie is captivating and as she scrolls through the photos Dani is taken aback by how wildly attractive she finds her. 

_I wonder if she has a girlfriend?_ is a wild thought that crosses Dani’s mind as she goes from photo to photo - admiring Jamie in her football kit, dressed up and wearing suspenders while having drinks in a pub, in cutoff denim shorts and a bathing suit top by a beach in the summer. Her toned body and slightly tanned skin make Dani almost drool and her finger drifts up the screen to hover over the follow button. She had already followed her teammates on social media and when she sees that some of them follow Jamie, Dani taps the follow button then locks her phone and puts it down on the table in front of her.

“She’s the captain,” Dani says to herself out loud. She her temples and sits up straighter in her chair. “Get her face out of your head. Focus on the game.”

If only it were that easy. 

When she turns up at the training grounds on Wednesday, she’s given the rest of the information she needs and changes into her training kit and makes her way into the gym where her teammates are already beginning their individual workout plans. She spends one on one time with one of the athletic trainers, building a plan for herself and doing some testing so they know where she falls with her fitness and by the end of it sweat soaks through her shirt and her hair clings damply to her forehead and the back of her neck. 

“Wow,” she says, sitting down on one of the weightlifting benches. “I know I’m not out of shape but it sure feels like it.”

“Welcome to England,” one of her nearby teammates says as she does some dumbbell curls with weights that are heavier than what Dani herself can lift. “Didn’t get to properly introduce myself the other day as I was nearly passed out on the turf. I’m Caroline, I’m a right-back.”

“Is the air here different or something? I swear I’m so much stronger than this.” Dani wipes sweat off her brow and retrieves a bottle of water sitting by her feet. 

“First few days with a new club in a new place’ll always have ya feelin’ this way. You’ll settle in and find yourself again, don’t stress about it much, love.”

“I’m just itching to play, to really get going.”

“We all are, the next coupla weeks will just fly by, trust me. But you’ve been through this all before so you’re no stranger.”

Dani laughs and takes a big sip of water then takes a long deep breath. “Back home, I’d be in season with my club right now so it feels a bit weird to not be playing a game yet. Our pre-season starts in early spring and the season ends in the fall.”

“Lucky you,” Caroline replies. She puts the dumbbell down and lifts her arms over her head to stretch. “No games in the snow.”

“Please don’t remind me. I don’t know how you all do that over here.”

“It’s not exactly a party, no fun to be out there freezing your tits off but we’re a hearty people and can play in anything and then complain about it for ages.”

Dani remembers a photo she had seen while browsing through Jamie’s account. She was standing in the centre of the field with her arms lifted above her head as snow fell around her. The pitch was barely noticeable, almost covered entirely by the white snow and Jamie looked triumphant as she stared into the sky, snow dusting her bare arms and mud coating her white shorts and socks and caking her boots. 

“Are any of you guys friends with players from other teams?”

 _Are any of you friends with Jamie Taylor?_ is what she’s really asking. 

Caroline picks up the dumbbell again and begins to do reps with her other arm. “Yeah, course we are. Most of the English gals have played together for other clubs and for national team duty. Don’t know how it works in America, but rivals on the pitch and friends on the street is pretty standard ‘round here.”

“Yeah...no, it’s uh, it’s common in the states as well I was just..just curious I guess.”

“Do you have your phone handy?” Caroline asks her. Dani nods and goes to retrieve it from her nearby backpack. She unlocks it and holds its out to Caroline who sets her weight down and takes it. She clicks through a few things then spends a moment or two typing and hands it back. “There, now you can text me if you ever have questions or need help. Happy to show you around or just be a friend in a new place.”

“Thank you,” Dani replies with a smile as she takes back her phone. “I really appreciate that.”

Caroline stands from the weight lifting bench and tugs down her shorts then tucks in her training top. “You’re part of the team now, Dani. Better get used to it.”

The team finishes their session in the gym and they all grab their boots and head out to the training pitch, the same one Dani had visited during her first day at the club. This is where she feels her best. On the turf with a ball at her feet. The players collectively groan when they learn that Maisy had been right and after some warm-up stretches, they all begin to run the bleep test.

One by one they collapse on the grass when they’ve reached their highest levels, completely spent with burning lungs. Dani, still fighting her jet lag somehow still manages to impress and makes it farther than most of her teammates, earning her pats on the back and words of encouragement from Owen and the other coaching staff. They all take a quick break for some water and a chance to give their lungs a breather but then the balls come out, Dani can’t wipe the smile off her face and she suddenly has more energy than she’s had in days. 

The drills aren’t unfamiliar and she finds her rhythm well, passing to other players and catching the ball at her feet then quickly turning, watching over her shoulder, and moving around cones. Being an attacking midfielder means she has to be quick, creative, and one of her biggest skills, one she’s happily putting on display for her teammates now, is her footwork. 

“Yes, Dani!” Owen shouts. “Good, good, keep the pace. Don’t lose your mark!”

They’ve moved on from regular drills to small-sided games and Dani weaves between players on the opposing side, finds a pocket of space and pulls back her right foot then hits the ball right through her laces, sending it curling into the top right corner of the net. 

“Christ, what a shot!” One of her teammates shouts and runs over to give her a hug and a high five. 

“Fuck yeah, America,” another one says as they run-up to her and join the small huddle. Dani’s team wins the game with a score of 5-2, 2 of the goals coming from her, one coming from Maisy and the others from two of their defenders. 

Owen calls it a day for their training and as Dani heads off the pitch he stops her and puts an arm around her shoulder. 

“And that’s why we wanted you, Dani,” he says. “You can score goals and your footwork is class.”

When she gets back to her flat that afternoon, she changes into some normal street clothes and ventures back out into her little neighbourhood hoping to find a market to fill her fridge with food. A few of the girls on the team had recommended some shops to her and she wanders from one to another, stopping for an iced coffee on the way. It was a cloudy day but relatively warm, something she was told is common for an English summer and she finds herself loving every moment as she takes in her new surroundings.

The exhaustion of the trip and all the excitement that had come with it begins to hit her despite the coffee so she turns back in the direction of her flat, a little more lived-in now that she’s been there for a few days, she puts her food away and makes her way inside. She sits on the couch with her computer in her lap. An email pops up with a schedule for the next day and she reads through it, learning that she’s been asked to go to media day to represent the club with Maisy for the upcoming season. Marketing photos, social media content, videos for streaming services - the list of things to tackle was quite extensive. 

Dani pulls her phone out of her back pocket and opens her contacts, scrolling through to find Caroline’s name. 

_Dani_ : Hey, it’s Dani! I have a question for you.

A minute or so later, the three dots appear in the message as Caroline types a response. 

_Caroline_ : Sure thing, America. Go for it. 

Dani rolls her eyes, getting the feeling that America is a nickname that won’t go away anytime soon. 

_Dani_ : Are there usually players from other teams at your media days? We never did one for a whole league back home, just for our own clubs. 

_Caroline_ : Ah, yeah, we do have our own media days as well but each year there’s one for the league as a whole and a couple of people from each team go and take part. It’s usually a pretty good time to be fair, lucky you got tapped to take part this time. The new shiny American the club wants to show off.

 _Dani_ : I’m really not that shiny. 

_Caroline_ : Tell that to your right foot, it just couldn’t stop scoring today. 

_Dani_ : I hope people can forgive me when I play games and that doesn’t happen. 

_Caroline_ : It’s expected now, America. No pressure ;) You'll have fun at the media say, it’s always a proper fun time and you’ll get to meet a lot of people. Say hi to Jamie for me, tell her I can’t wait to knock her on her arse this season when she tries to get around me. Off-season’s done me well. 

So, Jamie would be there. Of course, she would there. Why wouldn’t she be there? Dani feels slightly embarrassed by the fact that ever since stalking her social media accounts, which is what she had done and she can’t lie to herself about it or deny it despite having tried, she’s found it hard to get the brunette out of her head. In fact, she’s a little annoyed by it. Annoyed by how the photo of Jamie in those damn short denim shorts...her bathing suit top that left a lot to the imagination and those muscular legs is always there now when she’s alone and closes her eyes.

A late-night deep dive into videos on the internet taught Dani that Jamie is fast, really fast, and she’s ruthless. Not afraid of a heavy tackle, providing or receiving. With her at the helm of the squad, it’s no wonder the team won the league and as a fellow footballer, Dani is slightly in awe of how talented she is. As a woman who is very much attracted to other women? Well, that might just be the bigger reason for why Dani can’t get Jamie out of her head but she would never, ever voice that out loud. 

A crush on the captain of what's meant to be her rival team and she’d never even met the woman? How the hell was she going to deal with that...

A car is waiting outside her flat the next morning and Dani expects a club-hired driver but is delighted to find Maisy in the driver's seat. She rolls down the window as Dani approaches the car and smiles. 

“Morning Miss Clayton, where to?” 

Dani laughs and walks around the car to gets into the passenger seat, still not used to being on the opposite side of the car, the wrong side of the car, and the wrong side of the road.

“I didn’t know you’d be picking me up,” Dani says as she buckles her seatbelt.

“Asked around, thought it might be nice if we turned up together,” Maisy says, shifting the car into drive and pulling away from the side of the road. “I know you’re still fresh off the boat and all that and it’s nice to have a familiar face.”

“I’m never going to lose the whole American thing, am I?”

Maisy shakes her head. “Not likely, babes. You’re the only one we’ve got on the team and it’s too much of a laugh.”

They drive for a little over half an hour, weaving their way through the streets of London while talking about some of their experiences in the game and the biggest differences between the American league and the English league. Dani’s eyes are fixed to her surroundings, taking in the scenery and all that is still so foreign to her. It’s still somewhat surreal to be in a completely different country to play the game and the world that whizzes by them as Maisy makes her way through London traffic is a never-ending reminder. Maisy drives down into an underground car park and they head up the elevator to a large photography studio and sign in with someone at the entrance to say they’ve arrived. Someone leads them to the dressing area where they’ll change into their kits and it’s slightly chaotic as people run around doing various tasks. 

“It’s like this every year,” Maisy says to Dani. They stop just outside the main studio which is filled with lights that illuminate a player standing in front of a green backdrop. Equipment and a huddle of people block the player standing and Dani cranes her neck to get a look at which team might be doing their press right now. When a woman with a clipboard steps out of the way, Dani sees her standing proudly on a yellow X on the ground, her mark for the camera. The director calls action and she steps towards the camera and grabs the club badge on her shirt. 

_How is she even more attractive in person?_ Dani wonders. Jamie laughs at something the person behind the camera says and the sound drifts through the crowd of people and lands like a thud against Dani’s chest. She’s staring, eyes completely fixed on the brunette with the curly brown locks that are pulled back into a small easy bun. Even from the edge of the studio, Dani can see that Jamie’s eyes are wide and bright as she steps back onto her mark, queueing herself up to repeat the same badge grabbing motion. 

A hand wraps around Dani’s arm and she looks to her right as Maisy drags her away towards the green room. Away from Jamie. “Come on, babes. We’re next on the schedule to be in there and we need to get our kits on. They’re already behind.”

The green room is another space filled with activity and people buzzing about. Maisy, a seasoned pro, doesn’t even step behind any kind of partition to change and pulls her sweater up over her head, tossing it to the side. She drops her track pants to her ankles and steps out of them, leaving herself in only her sports bra and underwear and she pulls her perfectly folded shorts and top out of the duffel bag she had brought with her. 

“Should I just...over here then?” Dani asks, pointing to a small space behind a hanging curtain on the right side of the room. 

“Up to you, change anywhere you want.”

She was used to changing in front of other people, but those people were her teammates, people she was familiar with. She was never the star for her club, never one to do the promotional material, never called on for any commercial sets or brand campaigns - this is a new world to her and she feels a little self-conscious for some reason but she sticks close to Maisy and unbuttons the loose pink shirt she’s wearing. She takes it off, standing in just her jeans and a sports bra, and as she's about to unzip her pants, two people walk into the greenroom, laughing with one another and talking quickly in thick accents. In a flash, one of them pulls their own tops over their head and when it registers to Dani that it’s Jamie, she swallows a lump that has formed in her throat and tries her hardest not to stare at the expanse of bare skin just a few feet away from her. 

_Fuck. Get it together, Dani_.

“Ah, look who it is. Maisy, Maisy,” Jamie says when she notices a familiar face in the room. “Had fun at that barbeque a few weeks back, still think I did more keep ups than you did though, mate.”

Maisy looks at Jamie and she rolls her eyes as she scoffs. “You wish. No one’s ever beaten my record.”

Jamie laughs as Maisy pulls her shorts up and tugs her top over her head. They approach one another and hug tightly in a way that only old friends do and give one another pats on the back. Dani watches the scene unfold, a fly on the wall, an outsider that feels a little like she doesn’t belong in this whole new world of football until Maisy looks over at her.

“Jamie Taylor, this is Dani Clayton. She’s our new - “

“American,” Jamie says, glancing in Dani’s direction and cutting Maisy off. If Dani hadn’t already been staring at her, she would have missed Jamie’s eyes looking her up and down but she notices it, she notices how Jamie’s eyes linger on her stomach and her sports bra clad chest and when Jamie looks her right in the eyes, shooting her a clever grin, she swears her heart stops beating for a moment. “I know who she is.”

Jamie’s voice is one of the greatest things Dani has ever heard. She can't place where in the country she's from by her accent just yet, something that she knows will take time but the voice is somewhat sultry, confident, and laced with something that settles itself low in Dani's abdomen. Her smile is enough to make any woman weak in the knees and it has that exact effect on Dani but she manages to stay upright. “I prefer the term new midfielder,” Dani replies. She smiles and extends her hand as Jamie takes a few steps towards her. 

When their hands touch, it’s like a firework goes off beneath their skin and Jamie’s breath catches slightly in her throat before she clears her throat and squeezes Dani’s hand, giving it a firm shake. Dani caught it though, the way her chest had slightly heaved, the way her shoulders seemed to rise and fall when they made contact. “Welcome to England, Dani. Hope you enjoy losing.”

“Oh fuck off,” Maisy says and Jamie smirks, letting go of Dani’s hand. “You’ve not seen this one play yet. You’re in for a bloody treat.”

Jamie crosses her arms to cover up some of her bare stomach and Dani has to take a deep breath to steady her nerves. Never before has another human being had quite the same effect on her that Jamie is having right now. It's new territory, wildly unfamiliar territory, and Dani isn't entirely sure how to react to it all. The only thing can get herself to do is laughs a little bit and shrug her shoulders. 

“Wrong about that one,” Jamie says as she looks back at Dani. “I have seen her play.”

“You have?” The words spill from Dani’s lips without her even realizing and she regrets them the second she hears herself say them. A foolish slip of the mind. Too eager to know all about what Jamie might think of her.

“Yeah, I do my best to keep up with transfer news. Can’t go into a new season without knowing who the competition really is, can I? I know all about you, Dani. Seems there are a lot of people excited to have you here. Can’t get away from your face online right now.”

“Get used to it,” Maisy says. “You’ll be seeing a lot more of it.”

Dani suddenly remembers that she needs to get her kit on and she kneels to get it out of her bag. She notices that Maisy has pulled on her socks while they’ve been talking and is now lacing up her boots and Dani fumbles as she quickly gathers her things. 

“Such a pretty face, it’ll be a damn shame to see a frown on it every time we win.”

She’s so focused on getting dressed that she almost misses what Jamie says but when she glances up, Jamie is looking at her with a half-smile and she knows the words are very, very deliberate. 

_God, why is it so hot in here? _Dani wonders as a beautiful pair of blue eyes bore their way into her soul. She’s sweating now and she can’t decide if it's because of the nerves she still has for the whole day or because Jamie’s gaze is lingering longer she knows it should, finding its way into her thoughts, committing itself to memory.__

__There’s a knock on the door and a woman with an earpiece walks inside and scans the room. “Maisy, Dani, we’re ready for you in make up", she says._ _

__Jamie and the teammate she had entered the greenroom with stand off to the side and wait as Dani finishes pulling on her kit. Dani is certain she feels those same blue eyes fixed on her as she changes out of her jeans into her shorts but tries not to fixate on it, tries not to think about the fact that she was just standing half-naked in front of her. She pulls up her socks and quickly ties her laces and when she stands up straight, standing in her full team kit for only the second time since it was given to her, she glances down at the badge on her chest and proudly smiles._ _

__“Those are good colours on you,” Jamie says and Dani looks at her. “But my colours will always be better.”_ _

__“Come on,” Maisy says, gently taking Dani’s arm in hers, leading her out of the room to go into the studio._ _

__“It was nice to meet you, Jamie,” Dani manages to say with a smile. Her mind is racing a mile a minute and she knows when she goes home that night, she won’t be able to think about the training the next afternoon or the pre-season game they’re scheduled to play on the weekend. All she’ll be able to think about is the captain of a team she wants to beat...and do a lot of other things too._ _

__“You too, Dani. I’ll be seein’ you on the pitch. I reckon it might be one of the best seasons we’ve ever had.”_ _

__Jamie shoots her a wink just as Maisy tugs her out of the room. After they both get a little make-up out on and they've settled in the studio, they’re given a rundown of the plan for the shoot and while they wait for the lights to be adjusted, Maisy eyes Dani curiously as she stares at the green backdrop they’ll both be standing in front of in moments._ _

__“Bit odd back there,” she says._ _

__“Hmm? What?” Dani turns to her and raises her eyebrows._ _

__“You and Jamie.”_ _

__‘What do you mean? What uh...what about me and Jamie?”_ _

__Maisy shakes her head, shrugging it off. “Ah, nevermind. Think I’m imagining things, our training schedule has me going a bit mad and Jamie is...well, Jamie is a lot.”_ _

__Had she been imagining things though? Surely Dani wasn’t. Surely all of that was real, right? There was a look in Jamie’s eye, a certain glint, one Dani thinks isn’t always there when she looks at everyone. Or maybe she’s wrong, maybe she too is going a bit mad from the new training schedule and the time difference she hasn’t yet adjusted to. Maybe Jamie looks at everyone that way, speaks to them with that tone in her voice. That must be it. That’s definitely it. That has to be it._ _

__The person behind the camera calls her name and she steps in front of it, standing perfectly on the yellow x on the ground. Someone tosses her a ball and she catches it with ease and within an instant almost all thoughts of Jamie are gone from her mind, replaced by ones of football, a new country, a club that has welcomed her with open arms._ _

___“I reckon it might be one of the best seasons we’ve ever had,”_ Jamie had said and the words echo as Dani points proudly at the club badge on her shirt. A symbol of her home for the next year. She’s ready to show just why her new club wanted her, ready to fight, and ready to win._ _


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, all! I'm pretty stoked that people were into this idea. It's so fun to write and very, very different from my other work but it's nice for a change of pace. I'm sorry for taking so long to update it but I just had to find the right time to be able to focus and get into this world and I did!.
> 
> Can't wait to see what you think about this chapter and I do hope you'll let me know in the comments! 
> 
> Enjoy! x

Dani is, to put it simply, exhausted. Between the jet lag which she still hadn’t totally gotten over, the double training sessions every other day with the club, and her own training, she was totally beat. She was performing well in training and during a pre-season match against another team from the league, she had scored two goals and celebrated them like a World Cup win. It was an incredibly satisfying moment to be able to prove to her new team and management that she was worth taking a chance on, that she could really perform. 

Her teammates had crowded around her with excitement and pride and despite only having been in England for a couple of weeks, she was already closer with this group of women than any team she’d ever played with. It was nice to be surrounded by supportive people who had welcomed her in with open arms, ready to take on a brand new season with her by their side. It’s might be a whole new world but she feels as though she's really finding her footing - both in the country and the game. 

After training finishes on a Thursday afternoon, Dani gets back to her flat and drops her bag down on the floor by the door then walks right into her bedroom and collapses onto her bed. Her eyes drift closed and she falls asleep almost instantly, too tired to care about changing. When she rolls over a couple of hours later, the sun has dipped lower in the sky and she yawns, stretches her arms up over her head then rubs at her eyes. A rumbling in her stomach reminds her that she hadn’t eaten since her pre-training meal and a snack at the side of the pitch so she pulls herself up out of the bed in search of food, knowing she needs some kind of protein and vegetable. She makes herself some pasta with grilled veggies and scarfs it down while leaning against her kitchen counter then convinces herself to change into her running gear. Did she want to run? No. Was she going to? Yes. She quickly changes into her gear then heads outside to go for a jog through the nearby park.

London she had learned was having unseasonably sunny weather and the park is littered with people on picnic blankets, congregated groups passing a football back and forth, people on bikes and runners just like herself. She stands at the threshold of a trail that winds its way through the park and she does a few simple stretches then starts the tracker on her watch and takes off. What was only meant to be an easy jog becomes more as her thoughts move her farther and faster than she originally intended to go. She finds herself hitting the other edge of the park sooner than expected and she to a stop when she reaches a line of trees. She jogs slowly in one place for a moment or so, checking her heart rate on her watch, and then she takes a deep breath and turns back in the direction she had come from. 

She pays a little more attention to her surroundings on her way back and as she weaves in between people on the path ahead of her, she swears she sees a familiar face run past her; a woman wearing only running shorts and a sports bra, making eye contact with her as she flies past.

 _Was that Jamie?_ she asks herself and almost stops to look back over her shoulder but thinks better of it, not wanting to break her own stride. 

When she makes it back to the start of the path, she stops the tracking on her watch then puts her hands on her hips and takes a long, deep breath. The longer she thinks about whether or not it was Jamie that ran past her, the more convinced she is that it was. She doesn’t want to be so infatuated by a rival from another team but there was something so striking about her that had been making it very hard to get thoughts of the woman out of her head.

She takes a slow and casual walk back to her flat, stopping to get a cold drink and a snack at a nearby shop. When she gets home she jumps right into the shower then falls back into her bed in a loose shirt and sleep shorts. It had been a very long day and doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the evening was the perfect plan. 

Dani unlocks her phone and browses through emails for a few minutes, getting her bearings for the rest of the week, wanting to know her schedule off by heart to prepare for the first game of the season in just over a week. She’s laying on her side, a pillow snuggled up in her arms as she reads her new player profile on the club's website when a notification pops up on the top of her screen that makes her jolt up in bed. 

**New follower: @jamietaylor**

“She followed me back,” Dani says out loud to herself. “She followed me back. Totally normal. Lots of players on different teams follow each other.”

She lays back down and taps the notification and it takes her to the app. She can’t help the smile that spreads across her face when she looks at her follower list and finds a new username, Jamie’s username. As if that notification weren’t enough to make her a little giddy, another one pops up at the top of her screen.

**@jamietaylor liked your post**

With an eager tap of the finger, Dani goes to the post in question to find it was one she had made earlier in the summer back when she had been doing some private sessions with a trainer at home. In the photo, she is standing alone on a pitch surrounded by cones and balls wearing her boots, her team kit shorts, and sports bra. Her body is sweaty and her hair a mess but she’s smiling as if there is nothing else she’d rather be doing in the heat of summer, and there wasn’t. The caption says “don’t stop until you’re proud”.

Dani drops the phone on her chest and closes her eyes. She doesn’t want to be thinking of her. She’s embarrassed by how much she’s been thinking of her. She just can’t help it. With her eyes closed, she’s there in her head with her strong jawline and killer smile, her curly brown hair and toned legs - no woman had ever cemented herself in Dani’s mind so quickly before, especially not one meant to be her biggest local rival. 

“Ughhhhh,” she groans, flipping over onto her stomach and burying her face into her pillow. 

The following morning, the squad meets with Owen in the club conference room and Dani sits on one of the seats beside Maisy. Everyone exchanges pleasantries and jokes and then Owen gathers their attention at the front of the room. Together they watch all of the finalized league promotion media that was shot when Dani and Maisy went to the studio. As their footage plays, Dani’s teammates cheer for her and clap and she tries to hide a bashful smile. The video shuffles through each of the teams and when Jamie comes up on the screen in her club colours, tugging at the badge on her shirt, Dani’s mind flashes to the moment in the green room when she had walked in and pulled that same shirt up over her head leaving her in just a sports bra with a bare stomach. 

_I definitely saw her running,_ Dani thinks. 

They spent another half hour looking at some footage from their pre-season game and each player on the team takes a moment to note something they feel they could have done better. It's an honest and open way to build trust within the team and a way to build trust within yourself and it's not something Dani's done before with a team. So much about being with this club was like back home but so much is different at the same time. 

“Next week is a big week,” Owen says as he claps his hands together. “I know you’re all up for the challenge but it’s never easy to start a season with a game against the current title holders and your local rivals at their home pitch but it should be quite a derby. It’s looking to be a nearly sold-out game.”

Dani leans into Maisy. “How often do these games bring out sold-out crowds?”

“Depends on who's playing,” Maisy says. “A game like this? London rivals and top-of-the-table teams? Usually pretty mad.”

Owen sits down at the head of the table and leans back in his seat with his arms crossed. He looks around the table from player to player and smiles with pride. 

“We know they’ve brought in a few new signings of their own but we’ve worked hard over the past few weeks and I’m proud of you. I want you to be proud of yourselves too.” Everyone in the room cheers and claps and Owen smiles as he does his best to quiet them down so he can continue. “Now the next few days are going to be heavy but I know you lot have it in you to push yourself. Tomorrow we’ll have a gym session and then two small-sided games with some shooting drills. For now, that’s it for today. Take it easy and get some rest.”

The conference room empties and Dani tosses a backpack over her shoulder and just as she’s walking out the door, Maisy grabs her arm to stop her.

“Babes, a few of us are going ‘round the pub tonight for a drink. Want to join in? Won’t be a late one ‘cause of our schedule tomorrow but just a drink or two, game of darts maybe. Might be a few girls from the other London teams coming, a lot of them are dating each other so it’s pretty casual.”

“I don’t know…” Dani thinks about it for a moment. She was already tired as it is but she wants to make friends, wants to bond with her teammates and what better way to do that than by going to an English pub for a drink when you’re in England? 

Maisy gives her shoulder a bump and Dani smiles. “Come on, mate. It’ll be fun, I promise.”

“Okay, fine. But just a couple of drinks.”

“Aces. Don’t think you’ll even need a ride, think we’re meeting at a place just down the road from your flat.”

Together they walk out of the room and head down the main hallway that leads out to the parking lot. The week prior, Dani had rented a small car to be able to get from the flat to training and games that were close enough to drive to and it gleams at her in its parking spot. It wasn’t much but it was enough for her and she was slowly adjusting to driving on the opposite side of the road - an odd but not entirely impossible task. They get to her car and stop just beside it. 

“Caroline!” Maisy calls out across the parking lot just as she’s opening her car door. “You coming for a drink tonight?”

“Wouldn’t miss it!” Caroline replies with a smile. 

“She’s the best out of all of us at darts. Don’t know why though. Naturally gifted I guess,” Maisy says to Dani. “Me on the other hand, total shite. Good thing I’m better on the football pitch. So I’ll see you tonight then, at 7 pm at the Queen’s Arms. It’s just a pub so no fancy dress, jeans and trainers are fine.”

Dani opens her backdoor to toss her bag inside then leans against it and smiles. “7 pm, I’ll be there.”

“Brilliant.” 

Maisy gives her a quick side hug then walks across the parking lot to her own car and Dani pulls her phone from her back pocket and opens her social media app to the notifications tab. Her follower count was growing faster than she expected and she had to turn off notifications for the app because her phone had been going off non-stop. She scrolls through the names of new followers and comments on her posts just to find the ones with Jamie’s name buried beneath them. She taps to Jamie’s account and quickly likes the most recent post then locks her phone and slips it back into her pocket. Would Jamie be at the pub tonight? She tries to tell herself that she couldn't care less but she’s never been a good liar. 

The pub is exactly what she expects when she walks through the door. Old, small, lots of wood and walls that seem to have stories etched into them. There is loud chatter, a flurry of accents from places in the country that she can’t yet place and thinks she might never be able to. The lighting is dim and for it being fairly early in the evening, it’s busier than she thought it was going to be. She scans the crowd and recognizes the familiar faces of some of her teammates in a far corner and makes her way between people standing around tall tables with glasses filled to the brim with beer in front of them. 

“Look who it is!” 

A tall woman with brown hair pulled back into a loose braid stands up to give Dani a hug. The starting goalkeeper, Claire, is a year younger than Dani with a heavy Liverpool accent, making her one of the more challenging people to understand but with kind eyes and a friendly smile, she is one of the nicest people Dani has ever met. 

“You alright?” She asks. 

“I’m good, thanks. Am I late? Maisy told me to meet at 7.”

“Nah,” Claire says as she sits back down, “you’re good. We’re just early is all...but speak of the devil.”

Dani turns around just as Maisy approaches their corner of the pub with Caroline in tow and they both smile and exchange pleasantries with one another before all sliding into the big booth and getting situated. Someone comes back to the table with a pitcher of beer and a handful of empty glasses and they fill each one to an almost overflowing capacity. Dani accepts a glass with a smile then slowly brings it to her slips to sip some so it doesn’t spill all down her shirt, a loose blue denim short sleeve button up tucked into the waist of tight black jeans. Her sleeves are cuffed and her hair hangs loosely at her shoulders. She knows she looks nice and she also knows that she didn’t dress up for anyone specific. No, of course not. Why would she? She doesn’t even know if a very specific person would be at the pub. She plays for another team. Why would she mingle with the enemy a week before the first game of the season? 

“Dani, what’s on your mind?” Maisy asks when she notices Dani staring into her pint glass. 

“Hmm? What?”

“You seem distracted.”

“Oh, it’s uh, it’s nothing. Just a bit tired I think. The past couple of weeks have been a lot, you know? Still sort of settling in I guess.”

“Only ever played here in England so I can’t imagine but you’re adjusting well. Relax, enjoy your drink, have some fun, okay?”

“Yeah,” Dani says with a smile, “I will. Thanks.”

Just like she had done back at the club facilities, Maisy bumps her shoulder against Dani and it’s the kind of thing you take for granted with friends sometimes, the easy physical contact and comforting presence. Dani is grateful to have found it so quickly in a brand new environment. 

There’s a bit of commotion across the pub as a few more people pile in and Maisy perks up, looking in the direction of the entrance. 

“Bloody hell, look who it is,” she says as Jamie and some of her teammates make their way through the crowd towards their booth. Dani glances up and does a double-take when she spots Jamie coming towards her wearing loose denim overalls and a worn, faded band t-shirt underneath. She’s got her hair pulled up into a loose bun and she's wearing high-top black and white Vans. 

_This just isn’t fair,_ Dani thinks. _How can someone look this good all the time?_

Jamie rolls her eyes and raises her hand to give Maisy a high five and Dani looks away, keeping her eyes fixed on her beer, foolishly nervous to make eye contact with Jamie. 

“Well, well well, if it isn’t the new American in town, Miss Dani Clayton,” Jamie says and the tone of her voice and the way her name tumbles from her lips makes Dani glance up, locking eyes with her. 

“Hi,” Dani says politely with a nod of her head. 

“What’re we drinkin’?” Jamie asks. 

Dani lifts her glass and shrugs her shoulders. “Beer.”

“Something wrong with beer?” Maisy asks as she sips her own and Jamie looks at her and shakes her head. Her eyes flick back to Dani and she half-smiles then takes a seat at a nearby table with some of her own teammates. 

Everyone jumps into chatter about how their summers were and some of the things they expect out of the upcoming season. Friendly wagers are made for who they think will be the biggest surprise of the season but aside from talking to Maisy, Claire and Caroline, Dani mostly sticks to herself - not yet comfortable enough to make small talk with people she doesn’t really know. She does her absolute best to not look in Jamie’s direction but she can’t stop her gaze from drifting now and then and each time, Jamie is mid-conversation or taking a drink but one time, the last time Dani’s eyes flick in her direction, she finds Jamie looking back at her with a bit of a curious sparkle in her eyes. She quickly turns her head to look away as if she’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t be doing and Dani wonders if that flash of a moment had been entirely in her head or if anyone else noticed it.

“Dani, you any good at darts?” Caroline polishes off the rest of her drink then stands and nods in the direction of an unoccupied dartboard. 

“I don’t know,” Dani answers, shaking off the glint she had seen in Jamie’s eyes with a bit of a laugh. “I’ve never played.”

“Ah, come on, Car,” Maisy pleads, “you’re setting her up for failure.”

Caroline smirks and stretches her arms out in front of herself, readying herself for a game. “Fresh meat, lads,” she says. She grabs Dani’s arm and tugs her up from her warm comfortable spot in the booth and leads her over to the dartboard.

“Whoa. Okay. I guess I’m playing darts.”

“It’ll be fun, promise. You’re going to lose, but you’ll enjoy yourself while it’s happening.”

Dani laughs again and it’s the kind of laughter that fills your stomach, it’s joyful and light, totally natural and easy. “Losing isn’t the kind of thing usually people enjoy doing but I trust you.”

Jamie looks in their direction as someone from her team rambles on about their new football boots and she watches with keen interest as Dani throws her first dart. She grimaces slightly when it bounces off the board and falls to the carpet below but Dani just smiles and shrugs it off then throws her other two darts. Jamie smiles a little to herself then tosses back the rest of her drink and gets up to head to the bar for another. 

Half an hour and another pint of beer later, Dani sits back down in her spot in the booth as Caroline wipes off the scoreline from the chalkboard. Caroline gives her shoulder a squeeze and they both laugh at the fact that everyone is now well aware of just how bad of a dart player Dani is. 

“Stick to football, mate, we need you there much more than we need you here,” she says. 

“Fancy another game, Caroline?” 

Dani, Caroline, and Maisy all look up and Jamie is standing in front of their table with her hands on her hips eagerly waiting for an answer. Dani notices that her cheeks have grown a little flushed from the alcohol she’s been drinking but she smiles and it makes Dani’s heart thud a little in her chest. 

“You lost last time. You know that, right?” Caroline raises her eyebrows and tilts her head. “Really want me to nick a win from you again?”

“Thinkin’ I’d at least be better competition than Miss Clayton here.”

“Ouch,” Maisy says. “For someone that’s never played, she wasn’t that bad.”

Dani takes no offense and she waves Maisy off. “It’s all good. She’s right, I was terrible and I think I’m going to head home anyway.” There are groans of protest from around the booth and from her teammates at the surrounding tables and she looks between everyone and gives them a warm smile. She glances up at Jamie who is watching her with a hint of a smile on her face. 

“Suppose I’ll see ya on the pitch next weekend then,” Jamie says. “Hope you’re quick because you won’t be gettin’ the ball away from me.”

Something about the way she says it makes Dani want to be bold. If their teams were rivals, she was going to start playing into it, truly sinking into her role as a player on a new team with a hunger to win and beat the enemy, even if the enemy was one of the most confident and attractive women she had ever laid eyes on. Competition is a good thing. It keeps things interesting. Why not make the most of a relationship that was well established before she ever arrived?

“If anything, I think you might struggle to keep up with me,” she says as she stands. She wiggles past Maisy to get out of the booth and Jamie keeps her eyes fixed on her as she does. She brushes a hand through her hair and swings a purse over her shoulder then smiles one more time at everyone. “Good luck.”

Dani says a quick goodbye to her teammates then turns and walks away from everyone and when she exits the pub and steps out into the warm evening air, she breathes in deeply, giving herself a mental pat on the back. There are small groups of people gathered on the sidewalk smoking and chatting and she stands by the door for a moment, truly taking in the atmosphere and the environment. London was suddenly beginning to feel like a much more interesting city and if she were to let it, it could really feel like home. 

The rest of the days leading up to the first game of the season pass by in a blur filled with weight lifting, countless drills on the training pitch, and her own runs through the park. Dani always believed that her mental strength needed to be just as strong as her body and in order to limit distractions she deletes her social media apps from her phone and does her best to stay focused on the team, the game, and herself. In order to perform the best for everyone else, she knows she needs to be performing for herself first and foremost and social media, the pressures of outside voices like the press and even supporters can make that difficult sometimes. 

Gameday arrives and a late afternoon kick-off means Dani has time in the morning to relax before she has to start her journey towards a more southern area of London where the stadium is. Maisy invites her out for a pre-game coffee and chat and she agrees, walking the few blocks down past the pub they had all been to and finds her sitting at a table outside a small coffee shop with a baseball cap and sunglasses on.

“Morning, babes,” Maisy says, standing to give Dani a hug when she sees her. She had taken the time to ask Dani her coffee order and she slides a plastic cup filled with iced coffee and almond milk across the table. “How ya feeling?”

“A little nervous if I’m being honest, and I never get nervous before games,” Dani admits as she takes the seat across from Maisy. She drops her own sunglasses from her head down to cover her eyes and she frowns a little bit.

“First game of a new season, a new club, a new country. Who wouldn’t be? Try to have fun though, you love football so don’t forget that. Not that it needs to be said, you’re a superstar. When you step on that pitch today, bet those nerves will be miles away.”

Dani sips on her coffee and smiles at the compliment. Try to have fun. She focuses on that, letting it be her mantra. She knows Maisy is right, she does love the game and that when she gets out there, her focus will be razor-sharp. 

“You think it’ll be a tough game?” Dani asks and Maisy leans back in her seat as she sips from her own cup. She thinks for a moment then grins. 

“Every game is tough when you want to win. It’ll definitely be rough. Always is against that lot, even more so when you’re playing on their home pitch. Can’t wait to knock Jamie on her arse though, a win would be bloody brilliant and I know we have it in us. Last season she nearly took out my ankle in a match, no whistle, and no foul. Gets away with murder sometimes, that one.”

“I thought you two were friends?” 

“We are,” Maisy says, “off the pitch. On the pitch, we can’t stand each other. You must know what that’s like, sure there were rivalries back home in your league.”

“Definitely, but I get the feeling that the ones here are a bit more intense. Playing for the city, right? We didn’t have that back home.”

Maisy takes her sunglasses off and leans forward, resting her elbows on the table. “Well then, you’re in for one hell of a game, Dani.”

Turning up to an away game is always a little stressful. You can already hear the crowds piling in and the music playing, the tv cameras are getting set-up and in Dani’s case, having never been to this stadium before, she doesn’t know where to look or what to do until some of her teammates lead her in the right direction as their club’s social media people track them as they arrive, snapping photos and taking videos. They walk out onto the pitch before they change into their warm-up gear and Dani does a full circle look around the grounds. She notes how perfect the grass is and how nice the benches are for both home and away - the club has money and that much is very, very obvious. 

It didn’t come as shock when she saw her own name listed in the starting eleven. She might be new but she earned her place and no one on the team could deny that. Before the game, some of her teammates sit in the changing rooms browsing their phones and listening to music and Dani just sits in front of her jersey and closes her eyes, focusing on the game and visualizing what she wants to do as soon as the whistle blows for kick-off. When the time comes to head out for the warm-up, Owen knocks on the changing room door and comes in for a team huddle. 

“We can do this, we will do this, let’s go do this,” he says and everyone joins in repeating him. 

When Dani walks out onto the pitch with the team, she can see that the stands are now completely filled. She looks around and finds a wall of colour, only a handful of spots scattered throughout it matching the color of her own team’s kit. There are people shouting player names from both teams, hoping to grab their attention even just a moment of interaction, a look in their direction. Despite all of the crowd noise and the music playing throughout the stands, she picks out someone shouting her own name and she looks over her left shoulder and spots a girl wearing her team’s jersey. She’s calling her name and waiving and Dani shoots her smile and waves back, admittedly thrilled to already have a fan of her own. She quickly jumps into the warmup drills with her teammates and they stretch, hop between cones and pass the ball between back and forth in intricate patterns. She doesn't think about Jamie running sprints on the other side of the pitch, doesn’t think about how in just minutes they’ll be up against one another, tracking every run and every ball. She doesn’t even look in her direction. No, her mind is calm and her focus is fixed on one thing - winning and doing everything it takes to make it happen. 

The warm-up tops come off and the team gathers in a close huddle - these women that are already beginning to feel like a family put their arms around Dani’s shoulders and treat her as though she has always been playing beside them. Maisy as the captain looks around the circle with a look of determination on her face that Dani hasn’t yet seen and then she smiles. 

“Let’s kick off this season with a win, ladies. Let’s leave it all out here on the pitch, our blood, sweat, and tears or theirs. Give it your all and try to have fun. I love this game and I love you.”

Together the team shouts “123 TEAM!” and they break and get into their positions on the pitch. Owen has chosen to go with a 4-2-3-1 formation and Dani finds herself bouncing up and down and stretching her hips just behind where Maisy will stand as the forward when the whistle blows. She keeps her eyes focused on her feet and quickly runs on the spot as the coin flip with the officials happens just a few metres away. Maisy chooses for the team to stay on the side they’re all on already and the world seems to slow down as it always does in the seconds before the referee blows the whistle to get a game started. 

She’s been here before, more times than she can count, and when the whistle blows and Maisy passes the ball back to her to get things going, she feels freer than she has in years. Right from the start, the game is fast. Incredibly fast. The fitness levels on both sides are unmatched but the other team is quick enough to break through the midfield and not afraid of a rough challenge. Dani grimaces when she switches play to the other side of the pitch as one of her teammates is running up the wing because just before the ball lands at her feet, Jamie sprints in out of nowhere and bumps her out of the way to take the ball down with her chest. Her teammate falls to the ground in a groaning crumple of pain and the referee blows the first whistle of the game, giving only a warning and a free-kick. Maisy wasn’t exaggerating when she said this team could get away with murder on the field because Dani knows it should have been a yellow and not just a warning. Her teammate pulls herself up to her feet and gets in position to take the free-kick and Maisy is lingering up the field in front of a defender, ready to run in behind and beat the last defender if the timing of the ball is right. Luckily, it is, and she quickly moves in as the ball lands in the perfect spot for a quick tap in off the side of her foot but the keeper comes off her line and cuts off the angle, easily gathering up the ball in their arms. 

The first half is like a marathon with both teams making good plays with good chances and just before the whistle blows to finish injury time after the first 45 minutes is over, Dani’s team gets a corner kick and a set-piece after the keeper tapped a long shot from outside the box up over the crossbar. Caroline sets herself up for the kick and Dani waits by the far post. Jamie notices the space around her and moves in her direction, attempting to cover up some of the width around her and when the ball comes in, Dani jumps up and almost gets her head onto it but a hand pushing hard into her back knocks her off balance and she falls to the ground. 

There are loud protests from her teammates when there isn’t a call for a foul or a card and she looks up at Jamie standing above her, sweat on her face and chest heaving.

“Are you for real?” Dani shouts at her. Her attraction for the other woman is now non-existent and all she feels is frustration as a player whose team keeps getting fouled without consequence. 

“Sorry, America,” Jamie replies with a shrug of the shoulders as she turns and runs off down the pitch, setting herself up for what will be a goal kick. A teammate pulls her up to her feet and they both scoff at what had just happened, muttering under their breaths about the poor officiating. 

The familiar smack of a football boot in the perfect spot against a ball rings out through the grounds and the goalkeeper sends the ball soaring through the air over the halfway line but the whistle blows for halftime and the ball falls to no one. 

“You alright Dani?” Maisy asks as they walk off the pitch. “Told you it would be a rough one, didn’t I?”

“That Jamie is a real piece of work,” Dani says, rubbing at her elbow, knowing that landing in a thud in the 6-yard box the way she did would mean a few extra bruises the following day. “Why do people like her so much?”

They step off the pitch and walk into the tunnel in the direction of their changing room and Maisy laughs a little bit at the question. “Number one, she’s a bloody good footballer, and number two, she’s fit as fuck and you can’t act like that isn’t true. I saw the way you two were looking at each other in the pub, not as discreetly as I’m sure you both would've liked. Save yourself the heartbreak though, babes. Jamie only cares about one thing and that thing is what we’re all here trying to do today.”

Dani looks over her shoulder as the other team starts to pile into the tunnel and she notices Jamie at the end of the line chatting with one of her own teammates. She looks back ahead and takes stock of Maisy’s words. Jamie was hot, very hot, but Dani had never dated someone else in the football world, especially not a woman and definitely not someone on the best team in the league. She might be hot, but Dani didn’t like her on the pitch and was beginning to think that she wouldn’t like her much as a person off of it either

“Not really interested in dating the enemy,” she says, trying to make it sound as believable as she can and Maisy just shakes her head and smiles. 

“Mhmm, right. Whatever helps you sleep at night, love. But if Jamie ever ends up being the thing that helps you sleep at night and you wake up the next morning to an empty bed without so much as a whisper of a goodbye, don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

Jamie being in her bed was never going to happen and Dani knows that she has to put all of her focus on games and her training from here on out. She didn’t need a relationship anyway, she didn’t even need sex. Definitely not sex with Jamie. Well, that’s not entirely true, sex would be nice. Sex is...well sex is something she was slightly craving but London is a big city, there are lots of other women she can meet. Jamie Taylor would become a whisper of thought outside of facing each other on the field. 

“We will never have to talk about this again, trust me,” Dani says but she barely believes herself and she's fairly certain that Maisy doesn't believe her either. 

After a motivating halftime talk with Owen in the changing room, Dani and the team head back out onto the field for the second half and shortly after, Jamie’s team does the same. Dani runs a couple of sprints and does some lunges before taking her position in the midfield. There are two different players on the pitch behind her after Owen made two halftime subs and Dani can hear the coach of the other team, a wildly successful woman named Viola Lloyd, shouting at one of her defenders to keep an eye on Maisy. Viola was tough, but you had to be in order to succeed in a position like hers in a game where even the coaching roles are dominated by men. Viola had brought the team to life and taken them to league finals and cup finals, winning multiples of both under her reign. Dani scans the field as the rest of the players take their places and when she looks past Jamie, their eyes lock and she swears that Jamie winks at her before turning to talk to her own teammate.

The ref blows the whistle and the second half begins with just as much pace and ferocity as the first half. Dani takes off on the wing, weaving her way between two opposing players, and then cuts inside just as a ball is slotted through the legs of a defender. Maisy gets on the end of it first and takes a touch to steady herself.

“Shoot!” Dani shouts. “You’ve got the space!”

Maisy looks around for a moment and finds that pocket of space Dani is referring to, noticing how she could slot it past the keeper in the far corner but in a swift movement, Jamie makes a run back and appears in front of her, cutting off her space. Maisy quickly steps over the ball then turns to get past her just enough to cross the ball across to Dani. Dani, not expecting the ball at all, somehow manages to get on the end of it, and just before it hits the ground, she pulls her leg back and hits it on the volley. Everything slows down and goes silent as she watches it soar through the air and when it lands in the back of the net, the world around her rushes back to life, and cheers from her teammates erupt. They run towards her and gather her up in their arms, rubbing her head and patting her on the back. 

“You beauty!” Caroline says as she cups her cheeks and boops her nose. 

Maisy hugs her the longest and then gives her shoulder a squeeze. “Dani Clayton, on the volley. What a shot!”

She beams with pride when the announcer’s voice comes through the speaker stating her number and her name as the goal scorer. She doesn’t mean for it to happen but somehow there just seems to be a gravitational pull between them and she looks across the field at Jamie who is looking at her with disbelief written all over her face. This time it’s her turn to wink and she does then runs back across the halfway line to her position. The ref resumes play and the game picks up again, with the opposing team seeming even hungrier than they already were. A mistimed pass puts the ball out for a corner in Dani’s half and everyone lines up in the attacking third, preparing for the set-piece. The ball comes in from a left-footed kick and number 9, a player with the name Jessel on her jersey, makes a run for the far post and jumps up, turning her head in at the perfect angle, hitting the ball and getting it just past the goalkeeper, her movement too quick for a keeper reaction. 

“Fucking hell,” one of Dani’s teammates shouts. The excitement of being up a goal in such an important game slips away as the score now becomes level. Dani knows there are only about fifteen minutes left in the game, having played enough of them in her life to be able to feel out the time and she’s determined to make the final minutes count. Both teams make substitutions but she and Jamie both stay on the field. Jamie moves positions slightly and Dani notices when she glances over her shoulder, scanning the field, that Jamie is moving in to mark her. A teammate passes her the ball and when she turns her body to protect it, she gets tripped and falls flat on her stomach. Owen shouts at the clear foul and the ref blows the whistle, stopping the play. 

“Seriously?” Dani says as Jamie stands idly by with raised hands.

“Touched the ball, mate. I got the ball first,” she says.

Dani turns over and looks up at her and shakes her head. “You didn’t get any of the ball, mate,” she spits back. “All you got was me.”

“How lucky am I then?” Jamie replies smugly, jogging backward into position as Dani stands up and lines up the ball for a free-kick. 

She takes the shot and it lands at the foot of one of her teammates in the middle of the field who quickly gets closed down by an attacking player from the opposing team, resulting in a sloppy pass back into their own half. Jessel, the goalscorer, spots an opportunity - the keeper has come off her line and she sprints forward to get to the ball first and she does. She dribbles it to the left and turns around the keeper and takes a shot at a totally empty and exposed net. The ball gets kicked in with ease and Dani dejectedly drops her head. Claire, the goalkeeper yells out of frustration at the defenders and Jamie runs across the pitch and jumps up into the arms of Jessel. The goal had come from an error uncommon for the team and Dani knows, everyone on the team knows, that they can do better. 

Dani’s team doesn’t give up despite being down a goal and they fight until the very last second of the game. Dani nearly comes close to scoring a second when a ball deflects off a defender into her path but the keeper makes an incredible kick save that she knows will make the highlights reel for the first week of the season. When the final whistle blows, Dani’s shoulders slump and she does her best to catch her breath. Her legs are sore and her determination has thinned as her teammates wander around the pitch, patting each other on the back and telling themselves they did their best. Suddenly, as though a switch is flipped, the rivalry aspect seems to disappear almost entirely as opposing players turn back into friends right before Dani’s eyes. 

Maisy gives Jessel a hug and Claire runs across the field to give the goalkeeper for the other team a pat on the back and a high five. Dani walks around and gives other players a fist pump, mumbling the standard “good game” to them all with a slightly forced smile on her face and then the crowd seems to thin as Jamie approaches her with a smirk on her face. 

“Dani Clayton,” she says and again, the way the name sounds on her lips makes Dani wish she could hear Jamie speak forever. “Must admit, that was one hell of a shot you had there. Volley’s like that don’t happen all that often ‘round here, hope you know that.”

 _Snap out of, Dani. Her team just beat you_ , she tells herself but Jamie’s smile and her voice, the way she looks with hair stuck to her forehead damp with sweat, the way her biceps become more exposed as she pushes up the sleeves of her shirt - it’s a lot and Dani swallows, trying to push aside some very unprofessional thoughts that suddenly flood her mind. 

“Doubted ya a bit when you said I’d struggle to keep up with you but I’d be lyin’ if I said that wasn’t true. You put in a good shift, the team’s lucky to have a player like you.”

“Thank you,” Dani replies. It’s all she can manage to say and she hates herself a little bit for it. 

“Nice to have some new competition in this league." Dani opens her mouth to reply but Maisy shouts her name across the pitch and she closes it. Jamie looks in Maisy’s direction and salutes her then turns back to Dani. “Captain calling, best get goin’. Sure I’ll see you around. Next time I’ll get on the scoresheet. You can count on it.”

Jamie turns on her heels and runs across the field to join the huddle her team has now formed and Dani slowly makes her way back to Maisy and her teammates as they all move into their own huddle with Owen at the helm.

“Dani…” Maisy nods in Jamie’s direction then shakes her head. “Remember that wee chat we had about an hour ago when you said, and these are your own words, babes, that you’re not really interested in dating the enemy? Care to explain that little moment over there? You know we could all see you, yeah?”

Dani takes a deep breath and does her best to hide an embarrassed smile. She should be thinking about the loss, thinking about how she could have done better, how the team can move forward before the next game but instead she’s thinking about the smug brunette, the captain of the team that had just beaten hers and the thoughts have absolutely nothing to do with football. 

“Shut up,” Dani mumbles, and Maisy just laughs at her as they take their place with the rest of the team. 

“Christ, Dani,” Maisy says. “Good luck.”

Luck. Is that what she needs? She has no damn clue anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if any of the football gameplay feels unbelievable or out of place. I watch A LOT of football but I have never written it out like this before and it's more challenging than I thought to make it feel natural but I hope I'm doing it justice!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you to all the new readers and for everyone that left kudos and such wonderful comments on the previous chapter! This story is super fun to write and I'm so glad you're liking it so far. I'm also glad that the gameplay seemed to go over well, that is such a relief!
> 
> Anywho - here's a new update for you & I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one. Enjoy! x

Monday is meant to be a day for rest. After a week of training with the club, training on her own, and then the game...she should WANT to rest. Instead, Dani is on her second set of three hill sprints. The park that she runs through most days has a wide hill on one side, just steep enough to make running sprints up and down worth it and when Dani gets to the top after the end of her second set, she collapses onto the grass and stares up at the cloud covered sky overhead. 

The team had lost, she had lost, and even though she knows that in a game like football anything can happen – it’s not good enough. Starting a new season with a new team and not getting a win was frustrating and she was internalizing a lot of her own feelings about it, not yet feeling comfortable enough to share them with some of the teammates she had grown closer to.

When she had gotten back to her flat the evening after the game, she didn’t know what to do with herself. She’d lost games before, sure. It’s inevitable at some point and normally she’d be able to move past it but it was hard to do that this time and moments of the game started replaying in her mind the second she laid down in bed that night. The hill sprints help. They help a lot. They help because the only thing she can think about as she pulls her body up the hill then jogs back down is the burn in her lungs and the ache in her legs. It’s good pain, in her opinion. Pain with a purpose. Pain that’s entirely worth it. 

Suddenly her view of the sky above her is slightly blocked as a figure stands over her but after the sprints, she’s too exhausted to be concerned and too exhausted to make out who it could be. Maybe they weren’t even real? Maybe she had pushed herself so hard that she’s now delirious and seeing things that aren’t there?

“Are you dead?”

The voice though, the voice gives it away. She’d already memorized the way that voice sounds and the person who it belongs to is very real. 

Dani swiftly moves into a seated position and glances up to find Jamie studying her with raised eyebrows, her hands on her hips. She’s in only running shorts and a sports bra again and Dani’s eyes flick down to her exposed stomach; toned, defined, and trickled with sweat. She thinks she’s being discreet but when she quickly looks back up at Jamie’s face, her raised eyebrows and curious expression have faded, a smug and cheeky grin replacing them. 

“Definitely not dead,” Jamie says. 

“Just taking a break,” Dani replies. 

Jamie takes a deep breath, puts her hands on her hips, and nods her head in the direction of the bottom of the hill. “Saw you dragging your ass up and down the hill from the path. Figured the new American in town has either gone mad or she just forgot that Mondays are meant to be a rest day. Then you sort of collapsed, thought I should come check up on ya just to be safe. Mind if I sit?”

Dani swallows a lump in her throat and gives her a little shake of the head and she sits down on the grass beside her with her legs outstretched. She leans back on her elbows and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath and letting the late summer air fill her lungs.

“Seems like you and I have somethin’ in common.”

Dani doesn’t know what to think of this interaction or how to react. Less than 24 hours earlier Jamie was her rival on the field and she had gone home thinking not only about losing the game but about Jamie despite fighting with her thoughts. The hill sprints were meant to help get Jamie OUT of her head. Why is it that when we try not to think about things, when we try our damndest to push it out of our minds, the universe holds it out on a silver platter? Dani didn't want to keep seeing Jamie in her head, let alone in person, yet here she is in the flesh standing less than a metre away looking like a model for Nike Running. Here she is looking like every fantasy she had as a teenager when knew she was attracted to women but didn’t know she _could_ be attracted to women. The posters of professional female soccer players on her teenage bedroom walls weren’t hanging just because she was a fan of the sport. 

“And what do we have in common?” Dani asks.

“Don’t know what a rest day is. Can’t sit still.”

Dani smiles to herself. With Jamie’s eyes closed, she knows she can’t see her and she takes a moment to look at her again – to _really_ look at her. She’s beautiful. The first time she had seen photos of her, her initial thought was: _Damn. This is a very, very attractive woman_. Up close with more time than she’s had before to study her profile though, Dani notices more than Jamie’s initial good looks. She can pick out some of the freckles on her face and the little smile lines around her eyes. She let her gaze follow the curve of her lips and her jawline and it all makes little butterflies start to flutter all around inside of her stomach. She knows she shouldn’t be looking at her this way, knows she should extinguish the little fire that Jamie has seemed to ignite inside of her but the honest truth is that despite knowing she needs to, she doesn’t really want to. She had lied to herself for years about how she felt about women, she didn’t want to do it anymore. 

“Ah, yeah,” Dani says and then Jamie smiles, eyes still closed, and nods her head. “It uh, helps clear my head. The running.”

“Helps me too. Can’t go a day without at least a quick one. I take it you have lots on your mind?”

An understatement to say the least. She had broken up with the boyfriend who was about to propose because, surprise, she’s gay. She had packed up her life to move to a new country to play football for a new team in an unfamiliar league. That new team had lost their first game of the season and to top it all off she had pictured the captain of her club's London rival in her head while in her bed the night before when she couldn’t fall asleep.

“A few things.” Dani purses her lips and starts to rip blades of grass out of the ground, piling them up beside her in a small little grass mountain. A nervous habit. She didn’t normally get nervous around people though. As it turns out, certain rules don’t seem to apply when it comes to the brunette sitting so close beside her. 

Jamie opens her eyes and looks up at the sky then turns to Dani. “You’ll win the next one.”

Dani considers her words for a second, trying to judge the sincerity in them, and then she shakes her head. “We go again. Better as a team. Always moving forward. You’ll win the next one. All these things that people say when a game is lost, I don’t think they’ve ever helped me. I don’t know what it says about me as a team player though.”

“None of that bullshit helps me either.” Jamie sits up and crosses her legs. “You either win or you lose. We go again is obvious. Better as a team should always be in the back of your mind and you’ll win the next one? It’s shite. That can’t be guaranteed. Unless...you play for my team of course.”

The corners of Dani’s mouth curl up slightly as she brushes away all of the grass she’s pulled up and looks at Jamie. “You don’t want us to win the next one.” 

“Nah, not really. Gotta keep that table nice and clear at the top, ya know?” Jamie pushes up onto her feet and brushes bits of grass and leaves off the back of her legs. She does a couple of stretches then begins to jog on the spot, gearing up for the continuation of her run. “Best get back to it, you don’t make a season’s best list without putting in the extra work. Don’t run yourself too ragged, Dani. Don’t want the toughest competition gettin’ hurt. What fun is that?”

And with that, Jamie shoots her a wink as she seems to always do then turns on her heels and jogs off down the hill and back onto the main path through the park. Dani watches her the entire way, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened, and finally when Jamie is out of her sight, she lays back down and stares up at the sky again.

Maisy’s voice and the words she had said in the tunnel at halftime during their game echo in Dan’s head and she wants to cement them in memory. She wants to tattoo them on her skin just so she won’t forget. 

_Save yourself the heartbreak, babes. Jamie only cares about one thing and that thing is what we’re all here trying to do today. If Jamie ever ends up being the thing that helps you sleep at night and you wake up the next morning to an empty bed without so much as a whisper of a goodbye, don’t say I didn’t warn ya._

“Focus on the game,” Dani says out loud. 

The next morning, Dani pulls into the club facility parking lot and a bunch of the other girls on the squad are chatting beside their cars. They're discussing what they did on their off day and how they are not looking forward to the gym session this morning but Dani is eager to get started. She waves hello and gives them a smile then heads inside to change into her training kit and when she heads into the gym with her water bottle in hand, there is already music playing and Caroline is doing squats with a 15-kilo dumbbell in her hands. 

“If it isn’t the goal scorer herself,” Caroline says between gritted breaths as she stands and squats again. “You made team of the week, Dani.”

She hadn’t been on social media since well before the game and was now suddenly a little afraid to sign back into her accounts with the knowledge that her phone just might blow up. Not being on social media and not talking to her teammates since leaving the stadium to head home after showering and packing up her kit means that this piece of information comes as a total surprise. 

“I did?” Dani says. “Really?”

“Mate, have you not seen the League account? They post a team of the week at the end of every match weekend.”

“I haven’t been online much, to be honest.”

Dani sits on a flat weight lifting bench close to Caroline and her teammate does one last squat then returns the dumbbell to the weight rack and takes a much-needed break and a seat beside Dani. She pulls her own phone out of her pocket and unlocks it and taps through to the post with the team of the week. She holds her phone out for Dani to take and gives her a pat on the back.

“See for yourself.”

There’s a graphic on the screen set up like the formation of a starting eleven for a game and just as Caroline said, her name is right there in the midfield along with their club badge. Right above her name in the image is Rebecca Jessel, the scorer of both of the goals for her team on Sunday. 

“Not surprised that she’s on this list,” Dani says. 

“Jessel’s become a class player for that squad. Didn’t have it easy though. Got sent out on loan for two seasons and then they brought her back last season, didn’t start many matches though. A few here and there, a couple of FA Cup matches. Seems like the time away’s done her some good and now she’s a key player. Might even get an England call-up this year.”

“Are you guys friends with her? I know a few of you are good friends with a lot of other players.”

Caroline laughs and gives a very firm shake of the head. “Rebecca isn’t one to socialize much. Started dating someone up north while on loan and as far as I know, when she’s not training or playing, she’s with that wanker. Jamie told us one night at Maisy’s flat that he’s a real piece of work.”

The gym begins to fill with sound as the rest of their teammates all stumble inside laughing and chatting.

“Have Maisy and Jamie always been close?” Dani asks as she hands Caroline back her phone. 

“Yeah, closer than most people would think,” Caroline says. “They grew up playing together I think. Both got scouted to play away from home when they were young and came up in the youth system. A lot of English gals in the league have done the same but those two have been through the trenches together.”

“Oy! Caroline!” 

One of their teammates on the other side of the gym calls her over and Caroline waves back then stands up.

“Congrats on team of the week, Dani. You earned it!” Just like had done on the field after Dani scored, Caroline cups her cheeks, boops her nose and leaves her sitting on the bench. 

Team of the week. That was worth being proud of. She’d get over the loss but being recognized for her skill was always a good feeling and good for the team. She looks around the gym and smiles as everyone settles into their own training routines and she feels proud to be where she is. Maybe she was wrong and maybe Jamie was too. 

_We go again. Better as a team._

She’d never been around such supportive women before and maybe that’s why she never believed in the power of those statements. Things are different now though and this team is why. 

Dani gets up and saunters over to one of the exercise bikes knowing that a cycle is one of the first things on her own plan for the day and she hops up on the bike just as someone in the gym turns up the volume of the music and her teammates all begin to sing along to Wannabe by the Spice Girls. 

One of the defenders on the team shouts “I want to fucking win on Sunday, that’s what I want!” and everyone cheers and claps in agreement.

Maisy dances her way over to Dani and hops up into the bike beside her. “Morning, babes. Good fun, right?” 

Dani laughs as Caroline starts to do a dumbbell swing in time with the music. “It’s definitely something. Gym sessions don’t always have this much excitement do they?”

“Around here they do. Sometimes even the gaffer’ll join us. He’ll lift some weights and pick the music. Makes the hard stuff a bit easier. Good for team bonding and all that. Training and strength conditioning, all the technical stuff, it’s so regimental with some clubs and I hate it but ‘round here we do what we need to do and we take it seriously but we like to enjoy ourselves while we do it.”

“When you say some clubs…”

Maisy raises an eyebrow and begins to pedal, quickly matching Dani’s speed on the bike. “You're asking about Jamie’s club, hmm? Yeah, that’s one of ‘em. One hell of a club but be lucky you’re with this lot. Good bunch, these ones. Sure, winning trophies is nice but I don't know if I’d make it under Viola’s reign of terror.”

“I am glad to be with this lot. I really am.”

It’s one of the truest things Dani has ever said and then someone shouts her name and asks her if she wants to pick the new song. She grins and slows her pedaling on the bike then hops off and turns to Maisy.

“Team bonding, right? Tough to follow the Spice Girls though.”

Later that afternoon the team does passing and shooting drills and the club photographer and videographer wander around the training pitch capturing videos and photos for marketing and social media. Bringing fans into the behind-the-scenes world of the club was becoming more and more popular and it was an easy way to not only give back to supporters and gain momentum on social media but a way for players to look back and study their own training in a unique way. It shows how much fun they have in training but how disciplined they are and if they’re lucky, it’ll all transfer over onto the pitch on game day. 

Owen rounds them all up to talk about the things they could clean up before heading into their next game on Sunday, their first of the season at their home grounds. 

“Alright, ladies,” he says as he claps his hands. “We need to make sure we don’t leave space around that far post when we’re getting crosses into the box. We had the same problem last season and we were punished for it just like we were on Sunday. I know we can do better and I know you do too so we’re going to practice defending set-pieces with a focus on far post marking. Sound good? We’ll do it till we get it right.”

“Sounds good, coach,” Maisy says. 

He splits the squad in half and each group takes a turn attacking and defending with a focus on marking players with space at each post. They work on different formations, short corners, and long balls into the box, and Dani, much to her delight, scores two goals when she’s on the attack. If only that can happen in their game on Sunday. 

At the end of the session, Dani feels confident about the work they’ve put in. She could see the difference it’s made to dedicate that much time to one thing. She doesn’t know all that much about Owen Sharma yet but it’s been a long time since she’s had a coach that she felt like she could truly learn from but one she could also be friends with.

When they finish training, Maisy grabs her arm and brings her to the side of the pitch. “You free tonight? Having a couple of mates outside of the club over for food, drinks, and a bonfire in the back garden. Need to take advantage of what’s left of summer, right?”

“I’d love to come but...I’m from the club, aren't I?”

Maisy tilts her head and smiles. She links her arm through Dani’s and gives her a little friendly nudge. “Dani, I know we’ve not known each other long but I knew from the moment I met you that you and I would become good mates and because of that, I’d like you to come to the flat tonight. It’ll be fun. It’s nice to step away from all this sometimes.”

“Well you can count me in then,” Dani replies with a warm smile. “I’ll be there.”

“Brilliant. It’ll be a nice change from football. We can all use a wee break sometimes.”

When Dani gets back to her flat later that afternoon, she takes a shower then lays down in her bed with the intention of taking a nap but instead, she signs into her social media accounts and seeks out the team of the week posts that Caroline had showed her. She takes a screenshot and sends it to her mom with the note “Thought you might like to see this. x.” Their relationship had been strained since her decision to leave and the bomb she dropped about her sexuality but Dani knows that deep down her mom is still proud of her and knows she’d want to see how she’s doing overseas. 

It’s early morning back home but she’s disappointed when she doesn’t get a quick response so she scrolls through some of the comments left on the post and sees a handful of people arguing that Jamie should have made the list and a handful of people arguing that say she shouldn’t have made the list. It’ll always be that way, you can’t make everyone happy. Most of the comments are the same but a few stand out to her. 

**@daniclayton made team of the week? REALLY?! Wish these Americans would stay in their own damn country and leave our league ALONE.**

**Loving @daniclayton so far! Can’t wait to see what else she brings to the club! ❤️**

**Where’s @jamietaylor? She’s a fucking babe and should be on this list EVERY week! 🔥⚽😍**

People _really_ loved Jamie and not just because of her skills in the game. It seems, Dani learns as she scrolls through more comments, that Jamie is liked more for her looks than her playing ability, and having played against her, she can’t deny that she has two good things working in her favour. 

She opens her emails to find the photos that players are sent each week after their games, ones that were taken from them during matches that they can use for their own posts and she chooses one of herself that she loves. The club photographer managed to snap a photo of her teammates all huddled around her after she scored her goal and it feels right to post something not just about herself, but about her new team. She thinks about her caption for a minute or so and decides to not even mention the loss. It was in the past and though she couldn’t change it, she could be honest about her new world and how she was really beginning to feel like she belonged somewhere. She simply types “So excited to be here! Can’t wait for the season ahead with this amazing club!” below the photo and hits post. 

Within seconds the picture has more likes and comments than she ever anticipated and she takes a couple of minutes to like and reply to some of them, deciding the fans would appreciate the bit of interaction. When you grow up loving and supporting a game or a person, it matters to you. Every moment of it matters more than the last and as a young girl who dreamt of doing what she’s doing now, Dani knows that any opportunity to interact with the athletes that she admired would have been truly special so the least she could do is reply ‘thank you’ with a heart to some of the people who took the time to leave her kind words. 

A notification pops up that she doesn’t expect and then suddenly there she is again in her mind. There she is in her sports bra and running shorts standing over her and making sure she’s okay. 

**@jamietaylor liked your post.**

Dani drops her phone down on the bed beside her and shuts her eyes. She sighs loudly and immediately the phone vibrates to say she got a message so she picks it back up to read the text. 

_Maisy_ : Here’s my address! Come anytime after 5 pm, see you later! x

It was now 3pm which meant she had a little over an hour to kill before she had to get ready so she plugs her phone in to charge, pulls back the blankets on her bed, and decides that her initial plan for a nap really is the only suitable way to spend the time. If she’s lucky, she would either be the only person in her dreams for the first time in two weeks or she wouldn’t even dream at all. 

London in the late summer is beautiful and as Dani hops out of a cab in front of Maisy’s flat she takes a moment to admire the flowers in the front garden of the houses nearby and the way the early evening sun seems to make it all look like it’s gold. Across the street, in a small park, there are some young girls kicking a football back and forth and she watches them for a few seconds before looking over her outfit - a yellow sundress with little pink and green flowers speckled across it and white shoes. It isn’t at all fashionable or dressy enough for any kind of party and she’s paired it with her hair down and flowing around her shoulders but she’s comfortable and she thinks it looks nice. She’d never much cared if people liked her sense of fashion or not. Comfort over style was her motto. 

In her hands, she holds a bottle of very average in price and popularity bottle of white wine and knocks on the door three times. The door opens and Maisy greets her with a warm and friendly smile and a glass of something honey coloured and bubbly in her hand. 

“Dani! So, so happy that you’re here, babes. Come on in, you’re just in time. Food’s on the barbecue and should be ready anytime.”

Maisy’s flat is small but charming. It’s more of a house than Dani’s apartment and even though she lives on her own, she’s a little envious of all the space and natural light. It’s obvious that Maisy has lived in it for some time and Dani notices the football memorabilia in a small sitting room when they walk past. 

“I brought wine,” Dani says as Maisy leads her into the kitchen. She motions towards a spot on the counter where four other bottles of wine are and then she fills a glass with the same bubbly liquid she has in her own glass for Dani and holds it out.

“Champagne,” she says.

“What are we celebrating?” 

“Dani...we’re adults. We can drink champagne anytime we want. Everything is worth celebrating. Come on, let’s go out to the garden.”

Dani sets down her bottle of wine then looks into her glass as little bubbles make their way to the surface and pop. She shrugs and takes a sip, enjoying the sweet taste of the alcohol as she follows Maisy out through a set of double doors onto a small deck. There are four other people sitting around a table all drinking different things while food sizzles on a barbecue behind them. 

“Everyone, this is Dani. Dani, this is everyone,” Maisy says, and Dani waves. 

Dani takes an empty seat at the table and has another sip of her champagne while the other people settle back into their conversations. Another knock on Maisy’s front door pulls her away and she leaves them all in the garden. 

A woman, a very beautiful one Dani might add, turns to her with a warm and kind smile. “That’s probably Jamie,” she says. “Always late but somehow fashionably on time. I’m Hannah Grose, by the way. Lovely to meet you, Dani.”

Dani’s eyes widen slightly but she does her best to hide her slight shock. _Jamie? Why didn’t Maisy tell me Jamie was coming? They really are close if she’s invited to an intimate backyard party. Why has Maisy been so nonchalant about their relationship despite giving me that whole talk about Jamie not being worth my time?_ There are a hundred thoughts running through Dani’s head and she brings her champagne glass back to her lips but instead of taking just one sip, she pours back the entire drink and Hannah just laughs. 

“I take it there’s a reason you just emptied that in one go and if my suspicions are correct, it has something to do with a certain brunette.”

“That obvious?” Dani replies while trying to fake a smile and Hannah is about to respond when Maisy walks through the doors out onto the deck with Jamie and an unfamiliar and incredibly attractive blonde in tow. 

“You all know Jamie,” Maisy says and everyone says hi and hello, “but this is her...”

“Emma,” Jamie says. “This is Emma. We sort of already had plans tonight when Maisy sent the invite. Hope it doesn’t seem like we’re crashing the party.”

Dani doesn’t look up but she can somehow feel Jamie’s eyes on her and now she really wishes she had another drink. Hannah puts her hand on her arm and gives it a comforting squeeze, one that makes her feel like they’ve been friends for years and Dani lifts her head to meet Hannah’s gaze. She nods and sighs. 

“Can I get anyone another drink?” Maisy asks.

Dani looks at Maisy, purposely avoiding any eye contact with Jamie, then stands up. “I’d love one, Maisy. Let me help you.”

She quickly slips past everyone and goes inside with Maisy following behind her and when they’re out of view of the other guests Dani crosses her arms and looks at Maisy.

“I didn’t know that you two were this close,” she says. 

“I’m close with everyone out there, Dani. It’s also why I invited you.”

“Maisy…”

Maisy looks over her shoulder just as Jamie settles into a chair with Emma beside her. She leans into her and whispers something in her ear and it makes the blonde giggle and blush. 

“Oh. Her. Christ, Dani. I’m sorry, it totally slipped my mind because all of these people are also friends with her and whenever we have these get-togethers, she’s always here. They've known her as long as I have. Jamie and I have a complicated relationship and I suppose I should have told you more about it. I know I’ve probably been a bit vague.”

Dani leans back against the kitchen counter and looks down at her feet and suddenly Maisy clues into something. “Dani...you really like her, don’t you? More than you want to admit.”

“What? No. No way. I do not like Jamie Taylor. She’s egotistical, cocky, rude...”

“And you’re just mad for her,” Maisy says with a smirk. “You’re a shit liar, Dani. Your face gives everything away.”

Dani closes her eyes, runs her fingers through her hair, and groans in frustration. “Okay, fine. It’s dumb. I know I shouldn’t because I don’t even know anything about her and I don’t know why I even like her. I know what you told me and I don’t want to get wrapped up in any mess, especially not with the captain of our rivals and I just want to play our game with our team but…”

“I didn’t know she’d bring some blonde.” Dani lifts her gaze and meets Maisy’s eyes as she walks over to her and leans against the counter beside her. “I promise. I really didn’t know.”

“I’m also just some blonde.”

“No, you’re Dani. You’re way cooler than whoever the hell that one out there is. Guaranteed.”

“Is she her girlfriend?” 

“Bloody hell, not a fucking chance. Jamie doesn't have girlfriends. Jamie has one-night stands and a trail of broken hearts. I meant it when I said the only thing she really cares about is the game. She has someone new on her arm every damn week.”

Dani looks outside at everyone seated around the table and notices that Jamie’s hand is on Emma’s thigh. She feels jealousy building inside her but she knows that she has absolutely no right to be jealous and she hates that she is. 

“And that’s what I should care the most about right now, the game. Starting from here on out, that’s what I’m going to do. Besides, I don’t even know if I’d make it to a one-night stand when women who look like models are the competition.”

Maisy turns around and reaches for the bottle of vodka. She cracks it open then gets two shot glasses out of her cabinet and fills each one to the rim and hands one to Dani. 

“Babes, you’re bloody gorgeous and I’ve noticed the way she looks at you but I support you and your choice to be one hundred percent professional. Here, take this shot of vodka.”

Dani laughs and accepts the shot glass. “Being a professional and taking shots aren’t two things that usually go together.”

“Who made that rule? Fuck ‘em. We train hard, we play hard, and we’re allowed to have a drink every now and then, yeah? This job has a lot of pressure and we’re only human.”

“You’re right,” Dani says. She holds out her glass. “We are only human. Cheers.”

Maisy smiles and they clink their glasses together. “Cheers.”

The vodka is strong and when it touches her tongue and makes its way down her throat, Dani scowls. The champagne was far more enjoyable but vodka will help more to mask her feelings. 

“Come on then,” Maisy says. “They’ll wonder why we’ve been tucked away in here so long and it’s time to eat.”

The rest of the evening passes by easily and it’s full of jokes and laughter, food and drinks. Dani manages to avoid any kind of conversation with Jamie, very content to just let her exist in her little bubble across the table with...Emma. Instead, she spends most of her time chatting with Hannah, one of the nicest people she thinks she’s ever met in her life. 

“I love working with children,” Hannah says. “I’ve spent the past few summers up north in the country on a beautiful estate actually. The children go home and back to school in autumn so I come back to London.”

“I have an undergraduate degree in education,” Dani says. “I studied it in college while I was playing socc...football. Always said that if this whole thing didn’t work out then I’d become a teacher. Who knows, maybe one day I still will. This game isn’t forever and we definitely don’t make the same amount of money that men do in the sport.”

“You and I, kindred spirits my dear. And how are you enjoying your time here playing football?”

“Dani made team of the week.”

It’s the first time all night that Jamie has addressed her and she was fine with that. It was working well for her and she hadn’t even thought about her despite sitting across from her at the table but now Dani looks in Jamie’s direction, feeling like she has no choice but to interact with her. 

“First game with the club and she makes team of the week. Impressive,” Jamie says then takes a swig from a bottle of beer. 

“What club do you play for, Dani?” Emma asks.

“She plays for our rivals,” Jamie says, answering the question before Dani can even think. 

“Oh. Tough loss on Sunday,” Emma says. “I don’t really watch football but I know how that game went and I know this one here…” Emma seems to move in closer to Jamie and she puts a hand on her bicep, “...well, her team won.” 

“Yea, we crushed ‘em. Great way to kick off the season. Pissed I didn’t score though but there’s always next time.”

“You didn’t crush us,” Maisy says. “You won by a single goal. Check your ego at the door, mate.”

Jamie puts her bottle down and lifts her hands in surrender and Emma snuggles in closer to her and slips an arm around her waist. Dani forces a smile and has to look away from her again. She still doesn’t join in on the conversation and much like the night in the pub, she feels like she doesn’t have much to contribute to anything, not even to the chatter about the game. The alcohol in the kitchen calls to her and the empty glass in front of her is an opportunity to slip away for a minute or so. She and Maisy have training in the morning but one more drink wouldn’t be the end all be all, not if she headed home right after. 

Dani pushes her chair back and stands, making everyone else around the table look up at her. She smiles and nods towards the flat. “Going to get another drink,” she says. 

When she steps off the deck and into the kitchen she heads right for the bottle of vodka and pours herself another shot, quickly tossing it back and grimacing as she swallows. She considers drinking right from the bottle but she’s not that desperate, not yet at least. The sound of footsteps behind her alerts her to the fact that someone's followed her inside and when she turns to see who it could be, Jamie is leaning against the fridge with a slight smirk on her face

She points to the bottle of vodka and raises an eyebrow. “Plan on sharin’ any of that?” 

Dani shrugs and steps to the side, allowing her access to the bottle if she wants it. 

“Don’t have much to say tonight it seems,” Jamie says as she accepts the offer for the alcohol. She walks the few steps towards Dani and takes a glass down from the cabinet to pour herself some, far more than a shot's worth. 

“It’s been a long day. Training today really tired me out.”

Jamie turns around and leans back against the counter as she sips from her glass. “Right.”

“Yeah.”

It’s quiet in the kitchen as they stand a foot or so apart. The sound of laughter and a crackling fire out in the garden floats in through the open doors and echoes throughout the small space. 

“Did I do something to offend you, Dani?” Jamie asks. 

It’s not a question she expects to be asked but then again, the entire night was full of things she didn’t expect. The answer is no, Jamie’s done nothing to offend her. What she had done though was make it impossible for Dani to go about her days without thinking of her and she knows it's not Jamie’s fault. It’s no one’s fault. It just is and it just sucks. 

“No, you didn’t.”

“You’ve barely looked in my direction once tonight. Maybe I’m just going mad though. Thought I might’ve said somethin’ to hurt your feelings or done somethin' to make you want to ignore me.”

“Like I said, I’m just tired.”

“You’re sure about that?”

The way Jamie is looking at her makes her feel a little bit like her skin is on fire and she has to swallow a lump in her throat. Why does she of all people, the silly little American who is thousands of miles away from home, have to feel this way? It just didn’t seem fair. And why is Jamie in the kitchen talking to her when some gorgeous blonde who had just been cozied up beside her is sitting outside alone now?

“Yeah,” Dani says, letting out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “I’m sure. When you go back outside could you tell Maisy that I headed home?”

Jamie’s gaze softens and she takes a step towards her, opening her mouth to protest but Dani swiftly slips around her towards the hallway that leads to the front door. 

“I’m sure she won’t mind me leaving,” she says. “I’ll see her tomorrow.”

“Dani…”

With one last smile, Dani looks at her and nods. “Enjoy your night, Jamie. Have fun with your friend Emma.” She turns on her heels and disappears down the dark hallway and out of the flat, leaving Jamie alone in the kitchen with her glass of vodka. She stands on the curb outside and calls herself a cab and as she waits she can hear everyone chatting and laughing in Maisy’s back garden. 

_They won’t even miss me,_ Dani thinks. _Focus on the game._

Dani turns up at the club the next morning before her teammates and sets herself up on the exercise bike again. She picks her own music and pops her wireless headphones in and begins to pedal. The easy rhythm of the cycling and the flow she settles into makes it easy for her head to clear and she gets so completely in the zone that the whole world around her slips away until she feels a hand on her shoulder giving her a gentle shake.

She turns to her right and Maisy is standing in her training kit beside the bike, looking confused. Dani slows her pedaling, pauses her music, and takes her headphones out.

“Thanks for the goodbye last night,” Maisy says. “You went in to get a drink and just never came back out.”

“Oh uh...yeah, I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t feeling well,” Dani replies.

“Mmhmm. Sure. THAT’s why you left. It’s definitely not because I watched Jamie’s eyes follow you from the second you walked away from the table and then she got up and went inside as well.”

“I was just tired okay? And Jamie came inside for another drink.”

“You’re havin’ a laugh if you think the only reason Jamie followed you inside was to get a drink.”

Dani hops off the bike and walks towards the weight rack. She picks up a 10-kilo dumbbell then sits on the weight lifting bench and starts to do a set of dumbbell curls. They’ve got on-pitch training in a half hour and her hope was to spend some time on her own, completely on her own, before joining her teammates but she knows now that her plan won’t be a successful one.

“You’re not really helping with my whole mantra of focusing on the game. You know that, right? But if you really want to know, she asked me if she somehow offended me because I didn’t look at her all night and she’s right, I didn’t, and it was very deliberate on my end.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Maisy sits down on the nearby weight lifting bench and scratches her head. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Starting from right now, we don’t talk about Jamie Taylor, yeah? I mean it. Let the rest of the world have her since they all want her so badly anyway.”

“Good,” Dani agrees. “Great plan. I love that plan. We have small-sided games today and I plan on scoring so that’s what I’m thinking about.”

One more question pops into Dani’s head and it’s one she wants an answer to. One that won’t give her much rest until her curiosity is fulfilled. She’s fairly certain she knows what Maisy will say and it’s a silly thing to ask all things considered but she can’t stop herself from letting the words tumble out of her mouth.

“Did Jamie and Emma...did they…”

Maisy stands and puts her hand on Dani’s arm. She gives her an understanding smile and a slight nod of the head. “After you left, Jamie had more to drink than she probably should have and she and Emma started getting hot and heavy by the bonfire. Didn’t stick around much longer after that though, seemed pretty keen to go home and...well, don’t think I need to say anything else.”

Dani drops the dumbbell to the ground and inhales deeply. She purses her lips and looks at her feet. “I figured,” she says. “That’s that then. Ready to go outside?”

When Sunday rolls around, Dani is more eager to play than she thinks she’s ever been. Her first home game with her new club and she can hear the fans in their small stadium as the crowd fills in. Everyone in the changing room is buzzing and there’s an energy about them that feels new. You try not to go into a game with the mindset of “we know we’re going to win” because anything can happen but that’s how they feel. The team knows they’re going to win and it’s not worth fighting that feeling. Dani makes the starting eleven again, something she isn’t phased by, and when the team heads out of the tunnel and onto the pitch for warm-ups she looks up at the crowd of people all wearing the colours of her club, the vibrant red and white, and proudly tugging on the club badge on their shirts. 

When she got her first professional contract, she felt like she had truly made it. She had achieved her goal of playing at the highest level that women can but in this new world with these dedicated fans, it’s unlike anything she’s ever experienced as a player before. 

By halftime, the team is up 3-0 and Dani had scored from a header in the 15th minute of the game. It happened exactly as her goal had happened in training earlier in the week and when Owen comes in for the halftime chat, he doesn’t say much to them. He tells them to keep pressing, to remember the space at the far post on corners, and to stay compact. It's a good reminder and one they take to heart.

Twenty minutes into the second half, Maisy passes a ball to Dani just outside the 18-yard box and she quickly looks up to find miles of space and the keeper a little off her line. She takes a touch to steady herself then pulls her leg back for a long-range attempt. When her boot connects to the ball, she’s convinced that it’s going over the top of the bar but at the last second it dips slightly and flies into the top right corner of the net. The crowd in the stands goes wild and all of her teammates rush around her and scoop her up in their arms. 

“She’s done it again, lads! Dani has done it again!” Caroline shouts as she hugs her tightly and lifts her up off the ground. She spins her around and Dani laughs and smiles and looks around at all of their supporters - all clapping and cheering along with her teammates. It’s an incredible feeling to not only score once in a game but getting a brace with a long-range effort is even more special. Doing it all at their home pitch is even sweeter. 

By the time the final whistle blows, the score is 5-0 and Dani is exhausted in all of the best ways possible. A goal from Maisy and two of her other teammates, a defender named Grace and another midfielder named Josephine, had solidified their win in the second half and the day feels completely different from the previous Sunday when they had lost 2-1. They passed well, pressed well, defended well. To put it simply, it was good football and some of the best Dani had ever played in her life. The scoreline might say different but it hadn’t been an easy game and the opponent had fought until the very end. Dani had been tripped in the 75th minute and had landed on her knee with a crunching thud that brought tears to her eyes. It earned the other player a yellow card but Dani was able to pull herself up and jog it off, the adrenaline of so close to a win hiding any pain she was really feeling. Looking down at her knee now though, she can see that it's already swelling slightly and she knows it needs ice but celebrating with teammates and meeting some of the supporters is the only thing that matters to her. 

She’s dragged away to do a post-match interview with the broadcaster for the game and she’s asked the question of what it feels like to score twice in her second game with the club.

“No goal happens without the other ten players on the field and I’m just so lucky to be here and to even have the chance to score at all. It feels even more amazing for it to be here at home with such a great crowd,” she answers with a wide grin on her face. 

When Dani gets home that night, her whole body still feels like it's buzzing with energy and excitement and she doesn’t know what to do with it all. Despite spending 90 minutes running up and down the pitch only a couple of hours prior, she wants to go for a run but when she settles down onto her couch with some dinner and takes a look at her knee, she knows that won’t be possible and it might even mean missing a little training during the week and it definitely means no hill sprints. She unlocks her phone and heads to her social media apps but the first thing she comes across at the top of the feed is a video of Jamie scoring in her own game earlier that day. 

The kick-off was the same time as her own and she hadn’t thought about anything all day except her team and her game but now, as she watches Jamie score, her blue kit clinging to her toned frame and a mess of brown hair falling loose from her bun, she finds herself almost wishing she was in the stands to witness the goal with her own eyes. It was a perfect strike and as Jamie runs into the arms of her teammates with a big beautiful smile on her face, Dani realizes that no matter how hard she tries to focus on her own game - there’s no getting away from Jamie. 

There’s a choice she has to make: should she embrace all things Jamie Taylor or just keep trying to fight everything she’s feeling? Maybe, though she knows it’s an incredibly messy and wild thought to have, Jamie has been thinking about her too?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dani is just so thirsty for Jamie and honestly? I don't blame her.
> 
> side note: my own league is suspended due to covid right now which is a big bummer because I'm desperate to play so I'm living vicariously through this story and pretending I'm on the team as I write it. It's fun. ⚽
> 
> also, come say hi over on Tumblr! I’m @justbackgroundnoise (:


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This story is so much fun to write and I hope you're all having fun reading it. I didn't think I'd finish this update so soon but here we are. Our gals all head to Manchester for an away game in this chapter and that's all I'm going to say.
> 
> Can't wait to see what you think. Enjoy! x

“Good! Good! You’ve got space in the wings so make sure to use it, draw the defenders out if you can,” Owen shouts across the training pitch. “With the new space down the centre of the pitch, we can have a runner into the box. Let’s give that a try and see how it works!”

Dani nods in approval and agreement. “If a long ball over the top doesn’t work we can cut it back and catch them in transition, slip the ball low into the middle,” she adds onto Owen’s comments. He looks in her direction and gives her a big thumbs up and she smiles, appreciating the fact that Owen is a coach who allows players to voice their own thoughts and ideas in training. He has his plans and his plays and it’s clear they work but he is always open to listen to what others have to say and it’s a breath of fresh air in comparison to some of the coaches she’s had throughout her career – one’s who were uncompromising and saw no value in creativity on the field, ones who forgot that at the end of the day, football is still a game. It’s a game meant to be enjoyed while playing and if it’s played with heart, can truly be an art form.

It’s an especially hot day for late September and Dani brings her water bottle to her mouth to take a drink but finds it’s already gone warm. She’s opted to wear her sleeveless training top for the session, not that it would make much of a difference from her spot on the bench at the side of the grass though. There are no football boots on her feet today, only her trainers, and she’s doing her best to feel useful despite not actually being out on the pitch.

One whole week of training and a game. That’s what she has to miss all because of a poorly timed tackle and she’s furious about it. Injuries are part of the game and are, unfortunately, sometimes inevitable. It comes with the territory and in the grand scheme of her football career, Dani knows how lucky she is to have never suffered worse like so many of her teammates had over the years. Torn ACL’s, concussions, broken ankles, the list can go on and on – football could be an unforgiving game with unforgiving players and all it takes is one moment, a brief flash, a wrong turn, and you could be out of the game for months and the real unlucky ones could be out of the game forever.

Dani could manage a week. A week wasn’t that bad. A week would just fly...oh, who was she kidding. There is nothing worse than sitting idly by watching your teammates play when it’s the only thing you want to be doing. When you’re good at something, especially something you love, _not_ being able to do it is so damn hard no matter how much time to have to wait before you can do it again. The time of not doing it stretches on forever. Her injury wasn’t that bad, just a knee sprain, but playing and training could exaggerate things and make it worse. The team would manage without her for the week but she wasn’t sure if she couldn’t manage being without the team. Instead of being a player on the pitch, she’d be their biggest supporter on the bench in the training grounds and their biggest supporter in the stands at the stadium. All for one, one for all, or...something like that.

The team was set to head to Manchester for their first away game of the season that required some real traveling. The game, against a good team that had been promoted to the top flight of women’s football in England only the year before, was one that Dani had been itching to play but getting to go along with the team on the trip as support was a good consolation. Manchester was pretty iconic when it came to football and now it was now home to two different clubs in the women’s league much like London was also home to a number of different clubs in the league.

By sheer coincidence, Jamie’s club was also going to be in Manchester playing the other club on the same day at the same time. Of course, it had nothing to do with fate, nothing to do with the universe somehow bringing them together in the same place, and the likelihood of them even crossing paths while in the city for the games was slim to none. Dani’s club was set to roll into town in their bus in the early hours of Sunday morning. They’d go to the grounds and play the game then spend the night and drive back to London in the morning. Oftentimes, they wouldn’t even get a night in a city and instead, they’d just hop back on the bus and head right home. England isn’t a big country, Dani had learned, and most other cities could be traveled to and from within in a day. Due to some kind of scheduling errors with the bus driver, the team would get a night in Manchester to do as they pleased, though coaching staff always preferred them sticking to their hotel for the evening though that rarely happened.

“I hate that I couldn’t be out there,” Dani says to Maisy as she collapses onto the ground beside the bench after Owen blows his whistle, signaling the conclusion of training for the day.

“You’re sure about that, babes? Feels like a fucking sauna today. I was cooking, I swear, I was. Just call me a Sunday roast out there. My tits are the Yorkshire pudding.”

“I counted about four times when I almost jumped up from this spot to run onto the grass and join you.”

“How long did PT say you’d be out for again?”

“About a week.”

“Dani, a week is nothing.” Maisy pulls herself up into a seated position and begins to untie her boots. “Enjoy the wee break. You should be glad that you missed out on fitness testing this morning. No sprints for you, lucky girl. Don’t tell coach but sprints make me want to die and I’m fit. I can run but I just don’t enjoy doing it unless I’m chasing after a ball.”

Dani frowns. “I like running sprints.”

“Is it just you or do all Americans enjoy being miserable?”

“Hah, so funny.”

Caroline jogs over to them and sits down beside Dani on the bench as the rest of their teammates congregate around the water bottles and begin to gather their belongings. “You’re still coming up to Manchester, yeah?”

“Owen says that just because I’m not playing this week, it doesn’t mean I don’t get to be part of the team so yes, I’m coming with you guys on the trip. I’ll be the player the cameras pan to while all of the supposed game experts speculate if my not playing is really because of injury or if it’s because of something more scandalous.”

“Someone’s been watching the UK football coverage on the telly, haven’t they?” Caroline says, bumping her shoulder into Dani and smiling. “Our sweet little American, she’s growing up so bloody fast.”

“It’s not like I’ve been able to do anything else,” Dani replies.

Not true. She’s done a lot of things. She’s gone for a walk, she’s gone to get a cup of coffee, she’s gone out for food, she’s gone through Jamie’s social media accounts without accidentally liking any posts and that alone is quite impressive really. A real accomplishment. She’s watched the season-winning game from earlier on in the year and couldn’t keep a bashful smile off of her face when Jamie scored a crucial goal in the dying minutes of the game. A true captain putting in an important performance when it really matters. Had she reconciled with the fact that putting all thoughts of Jamie aside wouldn’t be possible? Not quite. What she decided for herself, a choice she’s still wavering on somewhat, is that she can admire Jamie as a footballer, as a fellow professional in the game. She can acknowledge her skill and be vocal about it but that’s where she draws the line.

She is absolutely not allowed to, under any circumstance whatsoever, picture Jamie in her running gear. She is not allowed to recall that brief moment when she had pulled her shirt up over her head in the green room on the day they had first met and she is definitely not allowed to think of her when she’s lying in bed at night and can’t sleep, her hands twitching and aching to roam the expanse of her body.

Nope. She can’t do that. No way.

But she had...maybe just once...broken her own rule. It really was just the one time, she told herself. A mistake, she said. I’ve definitely moved past it, she repeated. The thing is though, despite lying to herself for years, Dani never was a very good liar. 

She broke her rule twice.

“We meeting up with any of the gals after the game?” Caroline asks Maisy.

“Might do, yeah. Heard there’s a great place on Canal street that they all went to the last time they were in Manchester. If we win the game, we can drink to celebrate. If we lose, we can drink to forget.”

“We’ll win it,” Dani says, her voice assuring and firm as if she’s seen the future and knows with complete certainty what the outcome will be. She’s usually the kind to keep an underdog mentality but when she can’t be on the field to help contribute to the actual outcome, a strong belief on the sidelines would have to be enough.

Maisy shakes her head and stands up. “It’s a good team, Dani. Better than most of us expected them to be and they’ve won all their matches so far, same as us.”

“Maisy is right. It’ll be a tough one,” Caroline adds, “but not as much as the other Manchester game. I reckon we’re all a bit chuffed that the other one isn’t our match on Sunday. Leave it to the two rough ones to battle it out on the pitch. Not sure I’ve got it in me to deal with that this week.”

“Five quid says someone’ll be bleeding before half,” Maisy says with a laugh, holding out her hand out for Caroline to shake should she accept the bet, which she does with vigor.

“Oh, I am definitely in on that, mate. Question is, which team’ll the blood belong to? Should be a wild trip up to see the Reds. You’re in for a treat, Dani. A right proper treat.”

If someone were to ask Dani one fun fact about her club, something that stands out to her the most, it’s that they are loud. They are very, very loud. Bus journeys to games for her were usually filled with a comfortable silence and a certain kind of razor sharp focus. Headphones in, lights off, eyes closed, in the zone. A bus journey with this club, even in the early hours of a Sunday morning, has trivia and music and snacks and noise. It’s clear in moments like this how close knit the group of women is, how they’re not only teammates but genuine friends and that has become one of Dani’s favourite things about playing with all of them. 

Manchester is around a four-hour drive from London and the bus rolls into town five hours before their noon kick-off time. They check in at the hotel, have a team meeting while everyone is sitting down for their pre-match meal, go through a stretching session, something Dani takes part in as best she can with her knee, and then they all climb back onto the bus and head out to the stadium.

The stadium is bigger than their own with a beautiful pitch and when the team walks out onto the grass upon arrival, makes Dani wish she was playing even more. She looks up at the stands and spots where she’ll be seated during the game then heads back in through the tunnel to join her teammates in the changing room.

“Ladies?” Owen knocks on the door and pushes it open and pokes his head inside. When he’s certain that everyone is decent he walks in and stands in the centre to address everyone. “How are we all feeling?”

The resounding response is that everyone is feeling prepped, confident, and ready and when they head out onto the pitch for warm-ups, Dani climbs the stairs behind the benches and takes her place beside the rest of her teammates that are listed as subs but her role for the afternoon is to simply be another fan in the crowd. And there are a lot of fans. All of the cheering and shouting around her comes from fans of the home team, understandably so.

While waiting for the teams to finish warm-ups, she pulls her phone out of her pocket and wastes a couple of minutes browsing through social media. Of course, because it’s just how her life seems to work these days, the first thing her eyes land on is a post from Jamie with a Manchester location tag. It’s a photo from the last game she played against the team, taken just after she had scored. The caption says “Big win with the girls last time. Let’s get us another one ⚽🔥.” Somewhere across the city, she’s gearing up to play her own game and Dani has to shake off her thoughts so she turns off her phone, puts it back in the pocket of her training jacket, and focuses on the only thing that matters – her own team out on the pitch in front of her.

When the game kicks off, Dani can’t keep her right leg, the one with the injured knee, from bouncing up and down. It’s due partly to nerves she has for the team and partly due to her own anxiety of not getting to play but within the first five minutes of the game, a ball slipped through by a player on the wing lands at Maisy’s feet just inside the 18-yard box and she chips the ball over the other team’s keeper, resulting in it dipping under the bar and hitting the back of the net.

“Yes!” Dani shouts. She jumps up out of her seat to hug and cheer with the teammates she’s sitting with, all of them with big and bright smiles on their faces. Maisy runs into the corner of the pitch where a section of away supporters are standing and bursting with excitement and she tugs on the club badge on her shirt as the rest of the team rushes towards her, giving her hugs and pats on the back. An early goal gives early confidence. Scoring first, and quickly, is always a great way to start a game but when the halftime whistle blows, the score is still just 1-0.

After conceding so quickly, the other team made sure to not repeat any of the mistakes that ultimately lead to the goal but in doing so they seemed to give up any drive to attack as most of the game had been played inside of their own half. Anytime they did attempt to get the ball out, a wayward pass would land at the feet of one of Dani’s teammates and their flow would be gone. It had been one-touch passing between her own players and Dani could feel another goal coming. When she follows the team into the changing room for the halftime break, the energy of everyone tells her that they all feel the same way.

“There’s no fucking space for us to get through,” Maisy says, “we need to find it.”

“She’s right,” Owen adds. “But they’ll have tired legs now and my guess is that within the first 15 of the second half they’ll start making mistakes and we can capitalize on those. The centre-back has been shaky and unsure about her pass backs to the keeper and if we’re quick, we can jump onto those short passes in the box without being offside.”

Dani zones out a little as Owen talks. She can see herself running through the midfield, stepping over the ball and slipping it through the legs of the defensive midfielder but then someone claps and she’s pulled from her thoughts and brought back into reality, the reality where she won’t get to do what she’s imagining, not this week at least.

They all huddle together and shout the customary “1, 2, 3, TEAM!” and in a flash, they’re back out in the stadium and the second half is underway.

There had been a brief moment before leaving the dressing room when Dani’s hands had itched to turn her phone back on so she could check the score of the game happening on the other side of the city but she resisted the urge knowing she’d find out eventually.

The second half started out fast and both teams seemed to have an insatiable hunger for scoring a goal, though neither could make use of that hunger right away. It was choppy, physical, and when two yellow cards were handed out in quick succession to players on the opposing team it was obvious that their frustration in consistently having to defend was mounting. Owen had been right though, the centre-back was either being lazy or she was simply not paying enough attention and one of Dani’s teammates, another midfielder named Jemma who had been brought into the game when the second half started was close enough to steal the ball before it had the chance to reach the keeper's feet after it had been sloppily kicked in the direction of the centre-back’s own goal. With a sharp turn on her heels she easily slots it past the keeper, sending it neatly into the bottom corner of the net. Just like that, the score is 2-0 and Dani shoots up out of her seat. The away supporters go mad and Jemma is immediately engulfed in the arms of teammates and is picked up and swirled around, everyone celebrating her first goal in well over a season.

There is a time to be a respectful athlete, a time when you don’t gloat over a goal and you quickly head back to the centre of pitch for the restart but when a teammate accomplishes something they haven’t in some time, you’re allowed to celebrate. Besides, the score is only 2-0 so a little gleeful shouting is earned. If it were 6, 7, or even 8-0, the celebrations would look a little different. If you’ve never been part of a team, especially a team that is scoring and winning, you won’t understand the kind of adrenaline that courses through your veins when something goes well. When you’ve been fighting for something to go well and then it _does_. It’s like a drug and even without being on the pitch, Dani feels high off the way her team is playing and it’s invigorating.

In the 83rd minute of the game, Maisy is making a run into the box to get on the end of a long ball crossed in from just over the halfway line, and as she steps her body over the line to try and bring the ball down, there’s an undeniable shove into her back to get her off the ball and she crashes to the ground, landing hard on her stomach. The fans in the stadium erupt with conflicting and contradicting shouts ranging from “She barely touched her!” to “That should be a bloody card, ref!” There is no card but the ref does blow the whistle and she points to the penalty spot.

The physicality and the choppiness that had started along with the second half had only intensified and a blatant push inside the penalty area is careless and unnecessary, a mistake Dani knows stems from irritation and exhaustion but it’s now an opportunity for another goal. Maisy stays on the ground for longer than she needs to, milking the moment as most players do and finally she flips over onto her back and stretches out her legs. She visibly groans and breathes in some steady deep breaths then accepts a teammate's hand to help her up off the turf. Instead of setting herself up to take the shot though, she stands back with the line-up of the other players.

“Maisy isn’t taking the penalty?” Dani says out loud and the other players sitting around her all chatter in confusion, wondering the same thing themselves. They watch as Maisy whispers something into the ear of Jemma, the scorer of the second goal, and then she steps back even more and Jemma walks towards the spot – the small white circle in the centre of the 18-yard box. It was a bold choice, allowing a player who had just scored their first girl in months to take a penalty but there was a level of trust and confidence within the squad and Jemma had earned the chance. People believe in her and they were right to believe in her because when the ref blows the whistle for her to take the shot, she sends the ball into the same corner she had kicked it into earlier and sends the keeper in the opposite direction.

When the game ends, the score is 3-0 and within an hour the team is showered and back on the bus heading to the hotel. A clean sheet and a win away from home is what you always want and it means they’ll be drinking to celebrate that night instead of the always disappointing drinking to forget.

“Fucking hell, that game,” Maisy huffs as she collapses onto the bed in the hotel room Dani is sharing with her.

“It was a good one,” Dani replies from her spot on the other bed. “I told you we’d win it.”

“Had about four players all fighting for my ankles today. How many times can one player get away with a foul before the ref does their fucking job? Trick question. The answer is as many as they want to apparently.”

“I was worried for a minute when that defender took you out in the box.”

Maisy turns onto her side and looks at Dani with a mischievous glint in her eye. “Sold it, didn’t I? I mean yeah, she did knock me straight to my arse but I don’t even have a scratch on me.”

Dani laughs and shakes her head in disapproval. “That’s why some people don’t like men’s soccer, you know. Too dramatic.”

“Those wankers are babies, can’t even be breathed on without falling to their knees. What I did today takes skill.”

They settle into a comfortable silence and Dani leans her head back against the pillow and closes her eyes. She wasn’t the one running up down the field today but the sheer amount of cheering she had done has tired her out. Maisy clears her throat and Dani opens her eyes and looks at her.

“What?”

“Just wanted to run something by you,” Maisy says.

“Okay...” Dani narrows her eyes and moves so she’s sitting on the edge of the bed. “Shoot.”

“Few of us are going out to a club tonight to indulge in the splendors of victory.”

“Yeah, I already know that.”

Maisy purses her lips and turns over onto her back and she looks up at the ceiling. “And there might be some players from another team who also won their game tonight at the same club. I just want you to know that. We’re all here for the night and most of us are friends so...”

It doesn’t take a fool to understand where Maisy is headed and Dani knows she wouldn't preface a night out to celebrate for just any old reason.

“Jamie’s going to be there.”

“She is.”

“Cool. It’ll be nice to see her.”

Maisy bolts upright and looks at Dani, confusion written across her face. “It’ll be nice to see her? Just last week you were all oh no, don’t let me think about Jamie Taylor. Don’t let me think about how fit she is, how attractive, how she dates models – “

“Maisy! I definitely did not say that,” Dani scoffs and Maisy narrows her eyes.

“Babes, you didn’t need to actually say all of that for me to know that’s what you meant. You basically asked me if she and Emma had sex in my garden so I know that’s what was on your mind.”

Dani stands and shakes her head. “Nope. Not having this conversation right now. I am fine with Jamie being out at the club tonight and I’ll congratulate her on the game her team won and tell her that she scored a great goal.”

“How fucking boring,” Maisy says as she rolls her eyes and lays back down on the bed. “But I’m being supportive and that’s why I wanted to tell you because you might see her.”

Dani lays down beside her on the bed and sighs. She closes her eyes and thinks about their own game. She replays the goals the team scored and thinks about the physical therapy appointment for her knee on Tuesday when they’re all settled back in London. She thinks about the league and competition and how she’ll perform in the next game.

“You should wear something that’ll make it hard for her to look away,” Maisy says and poof, all of those things Dani was thinking about are gone in a flash, replaced by an image of Jamie catching her eye from across the club and not being able to look away.

“You’re terrible at the whole being supportive thing.”

Maisy laughs and Dani shoves her shoulder. “Thought it was good advice to be fair.”

When the team arrives at the club, a small place with loud music and flowing drinks, Maisy and Caroline pull Dani towards a section in the back where a crowd is already gathered and they find Jamie is standing in the middle of a group of her own teammates. Dani’s jaw nearly drops when she sees her and she can’t look away. Jamie is decked out in perfectly fitted plaid dress pants that cling to her strong legs, suspenders clipped at the waist and slung up over her shoulders, a crisp white t-shirt with a small branded logo on the chest that she’s wearing with the sleeves cuffed and what looks to be a pair of expensive white trainers that don’t have a scuff of dirt on them.

Dani looks down at her own outfit – a pair of dark blue jeans, a pink and somewhat loose-fitting silky blouse that’s tucked in at the waist and hanging off her shoulder slightly, and black Chelsea boots. Jamie looked like she was plucked right out of an ad for a chic and trendy clothing company and Dani...well, she had simply worn the only somewhat decent outfit she had brought with her. She knows she looks okay but her okay is nothing in comparison to Jamie’s _wow_.

“Stop worrying. You look great,” Maisy whispers in her ear and she isn’t sure how to respond so she simply says nothing and smiles.

They approach the group and everyone jumps into quick conversations. There are hugs, congratulations on their prospective wins, and jokes between people who have very clearly known each other for a long time. Despite their heated rivalries in the game, their relationships outside of it run deep with long histories of shared experiences – wins and losses, ups and downs, there are friendships that will always exist no matter what happens on the pitch. 

Not yet having many close friends aside from those on her own team, Dani lingers off to the side a little. She had never been a club person or a partier and had only come out to be part of the shared team experience that is celebrating a first away game win. The music is a bit too loud to really hear anyone and she just sways to it, waiting until it feels like the appropriate time to go and get herself a drink. There are a million other places that she wants to be looking but Dani just can’t help herself and her eyes linger on Jamie for longer than they should because when Jamie turns away from the conversation she’s in her eyes meet Dani’s gaze and whatever words she had been in the middle of saying get lost in her throat.

For a brief moment, Dani almost thinks that Jamie has to shakily take a deep nervous breath but then she shamelessly looks her up and down with parted lips and unsurprisingly winks at her. Please, Dani thinks, Jamie doesn’t get nervous around women. Why would she? Jamie Taylor oozes confidence and sex and it’s no wonder she’s with someone new every week because the club they’re staring at each other in is probably filled with other women who would gladly leave that night in the arms of the football captain.

Even in the dim lighting of the club, the wink and the way Jamie’s eyes seem to sparkle sends shivers down Dani’s spine and she decides that now is the right time to go get a drink. A drink will help. A drink will be good. Unless a drink makes her forget all about her own rules, ones that are set in place for very good reasons. It’s a risk she’s willing to take.

“Just a beer please,” Dani tells the bartender when they approach her. She pulls a few bills out of her purse and hands them over and in return, a tall pint glass with foam spilling down the side is pushed towards her. She lifts the glass to her lips and takes a sip, letting the cold hoppy drink settle some of her nerves. It might not be as strong as some people like their drinks but it’s comforting. She doesn’t look back over her shoulder at the two teams mingling in the corner of the club so she keeps her gaze on her drink and on the backlit shelves behind the bar stocked with expensive bottles of various alcohol.

“Hey,” she hears a voice say on her right, and when Dani turn’s she finds a tall brunette with long hair and kind eyes smiling at her. “You okay?”

It’s an odd question for a stranger to ask her in a club. _You okay?_ How does she even answer that?

“Sorry? Am I okay?”

The woman smiles wider when she hears Dani’s voice. “Oh, right. You’re American. How are you?”

“Oh,” Dani replies, “I’m good. Sorry, you asked if I was okay and I uh...I wasn’t sure what to say. I'm not used to being asked that question that way.”

“That’s my mistake. I don’t exactly think that they use that as a greeting where you’re from, do they?”

Dani smiles and shakes her head. “Not exactly, no.”

The woman cranes her neck towards Dani so she can hear her better and she holds out her hand. “I’m Madeline.”

Dani accepts her handshake and when she lets go, she notices Madeline’s eyes flick down to her lips then quickly drift back up. It’s brief but she knows she didn’t imagine it. “I’m Dani.”

“I know,” Madeline says, now trying her best to hide a smirk. “I hope this doesn’t sound crazy but...I saw you and some of your teammates walk in tonight and I couldn’t stop myself from coming to say hello. I was at your game earlier. Don’t normally go to any football matches but my niece was just aching to go so I took her and then I saw you and thought wow, what a coincidence.”

Madeline is pretty. Very pretty. Her brown hair is pinned back behind her ear and she’s wearing a red dress that looks as if it were made for her. Noticing women this way and not having to hide it is still new to Dani but it’s refreshing to be able to admit to herself in moments like this, and all the time really, that she’s attracted to women and she’d be lying if she said the one standing beside her with the heavy Manchester accent and soft brown eyes wasn’t attractive because she is.

“I hope your niece enjoyed the game. I’d say I’m sorry she didn’t get to see me play but my guess is she didn’t want to come to watch my team play anyway,” Dani replies with a bit of a laugh.

“No,” Madeline says, “she didn’t. Her poor little heart broke when her club lost but she had fun all the same.”

She brings her own drink to her lips and Dani watches as she takes a sip of what looks like vodka and when she lowers the glass, there’s a very alluring and faint lipstick stain on the rim. Dani was only in Manchester for the night and she had no idea when she’d be back and there is a beautiful woman beside her who she thinks is flirting and she decides in the moment to flirt back. It doesn’t have to mean anything. After all, there was no one else in her life to keep her from doing it so why not have some fun? Why not do something exciting just for the sake of doing it? 

“Did you enjoy the game?”

Silence lingers between them for a moment while the music in the club seems to get even louder. Madeline leans into her and brings her mouth close to Dani’s ear. “You know what? I really did.”

Across the club, Maisy plops down beside Jamie in a plush leather booth and she studies her for a minute before punching her in the arm. “Oy, mate, what’s wrong with your face? You won today and you scored...again. You should be absolutely buzzing. Another team of the week for Captain Taylor.”

“What?” Jamie doesn’t glance in her direction, her eyes fixed elsewhere.

“Your face. it’s all scrunched up, love. You’re bloody scowling.” Maisy says, following her line of sight. “What’s got your knickers in a fucking twis...oh.”

She spots Dani by the bar beside an unfamiliar brunette who is standing very, very close. The woman has her hand on Dani’s arm and they’re both laughing at something and then the woman steps in closer and brings her lips up to her Dani’s ear. When she pulls away, Dani looks a little shocked but then she eagerly nods and the woman laughs again. Out of the corner of her eye, Maisy looks over at Jamie and laughs to herself at the sight of her tight jaw, jealousy inching its way onto her face. 

“Do you know who that is?” Jamie asks.

“Not a clue,” Maisy replies, “must be someone Dani just met.”

“Right. Sure.”

“Why do you care?”

“She just...she shouldn’t get so acquainted with people she doesn’t know in a city she’s never been to.”

“Jamie...you acquaint yourself with women you don’t know all the time.”

“That’s different. That’s – “

Jamie reluctantly looks away from Dani and turns to Maisy, finding her with raised eyebrows and a keen look of suspicion.

“Why are you suddenly so interested in my little American?”

“I’m not.” Jamie shakes her head and reaches for her drink. She takes a sip and shakes her head again, trying to make a point. “Just concerned is all. Can’t trust people ‘round here.”

“Mmhmm. Anything you want to tell me, Jamie?”

“Piss off, Maisy.” Jamie looks back in the direction of the bar but Dani and Madeline are suddenly nowhere to be found. “Go back to your own teammates,” she says before tossing back the rest of the liquor in her glass.

Maisy rolls her eyes and gives Jamie a firm pat on the leg then stands up and fixes her outfit. She looks over at the bar where Dani is no longer standing then back at Jamie and finds the scowl has returned to her face. “Bloody lesbians,” she mutters to herself as she walks away, leaving Jamie alone in the booth with her thoughts and her... _concern_.

There are not a lot of private places in this small club in the centre of Manchester, a place she has never been to until today, but somehow, they find a corner tucked away from everything and everyone else. It happens so fast and it’s unlike anything Dani has ever done in her life but it feels good and she has no shame about enjoying it. The alcohol has helped to loosen her up and when a pair of hands fall to her waist and untuck her shirt as lips kiss across her jaw, she almost melts into a puddle, her body reacting in ways she can’t entirely control. She can feel the music in the club pulse throughout her body and then the lips on her jaw are pressing against her own lips and a body is pushing her into a wall. She’s hot and a little tipsy from the other two drinks she’d had before ending up in this position and wow, kissing women feels _so_ much better than kissing men. 

Kissing women feels right. But there’s something about kissing this woman, this stranger who she’s known for all of twenty minutes, that feels a little bit off. Her body is warm and her hands make Dani’s skin tingle but as much as she wants to sink into the moment, as much as she wants to experience it entirely, she can’t connect to this person and it’s too much all at once. There are flashes of a different brunette, not the one who is now slipping a tongue into her mouth but the one she’s thought of this way more times than she’d care to admit, flashing through her mind, and then it doesn’t feel right, it feels wrong. It doesn’t feel fair. To either of them. 

“I’m…” Dani mumbles against a pair of soft lips, “I’m s-sorry.” She puts a hand on Madeline’s chest and gently pushes her away. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“What?” Madeline opens her eyes and Dani feels bad because she really is pretty and she really is sweet and she wants to enjoy kissing her even though she hardly knows her but she can’t. She can’t be tipsy and thinking of Jamie fucking Taylor while kissing another woman in the dark corner of a club. She wants to be sober and kissing Jamie fucking Taylor anywhere but that can’t happen and it won’t happen. 

“This is...this is great and you’re wonderful but -”

“It’s okay,” Madeline says, cutting her off. She smiles again and Dani takes a deep breath, the deepest one she’s taken all day. “It was nice to meet you, Dani Clayton. I’ll be sure to watch your next game, you’ve got yourself a new fan.”

Madeline kisses her on the cheek then turns on her heels and slips into a nearby crowd of people. Dani watches until she’s out of sight and suddenly the dark corner she’s now standing in all alone feels a bit like it’s closing in on her. She doesn’t know where her teammates are and she’s in a city she’s never been to and she needs air.

When she stumbles out onto the cobble-stone street, she leans against a nearby brick wall and watches crowds of people pass her by, all of them enjoying the Manchester night-life and what the city has to offer. The cool evening air feels nice against her skin and even better in her lungs and when she looks down at herself she notices her untucked shirt and quickly tucks it back in then lifts a hand to her lips and closes her eyes. 

“Shit,” she whispers. She stays like that, alone against the wall as she listens to the sounds of the street and the symphony of accents and fragments of conversations that her ears pick up on as people walk past. 

“Dani. You okay?”

It’s the same question she had been asked earlier by the bar but its meaning is different now and so is the voice. _Jamie_. Of course, it’s Jamie. How is it always her now? They don’t even know each other and she’s only been in this country for less than two months but somehow this woman; this cocky and strong and charming and maddening woman has cemented herself in Dani’s life in ways she doesn’t understand. 

She opens her eyes and turns to look at her and Jamie is standing a few feet away with her hands in her pockets. There’s a genuine look of concern on her face and she stands alone without any of their teammates in sight. 

“You okay?” she asks again and Dani blinks. 

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay.”

“Jamie,” she replies, emphasizing the syllables in her name and smiling, “I’m okay.”

Jamie walks the few feet towards her and leans back against the wall beside her. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a lighter and one single cigarette. She lights it and brings it to her lips and Dani watches the embers on the end of the cigarette glow a vibrant red as she breathes in and her eyes follow the long puff of smoke that floats out of her mouth into the night when she lets it all go. 

“You’re a professional athlete and you smoke?”

“It’s not nice to judge people, Dani.”

“You literally run back and forth for a living. Your poor lungs.”

Jamie turns to her and holds out the cigarette, offering her a drag on it and Dani shakes her head. “Suit yourself. For the record, I don’t do it often. Almost never these days. A filthy habit I picked up when I was a stupid kid and needed to calm my nerves. Sometimes I’ll bring one with me when I’m travelin’ but most of the time I don’t even remember I have it.”

“Why do you need it tonight?”

There’s another long drag on the cigarette then Jamie drops it to the ground and stomps it out. She shrugs and looks at Dani, a half-smile on her face. This is the third time now when they’ve been alone together and Dani is beginning to wonder if it’s fate or if Jamie is just too stubborn to keep to herself. Or maybe...maybe she really is concerned. Dani doesn’t know what to do with that thought. 

“Heard you were out this week. The knee, right? Told ya not to run yourself ragged, didn’t I?”

Dani laughs a little bit and she smiles. Jamie smiles too and there’s a softness in her eyes that hasn’t been there before. It’s kindness and sincerity and it takes Dani a little by surprise. “Not my fault. Comes with the territory. Football is a ruthless game.”

“Well I uh...hope you’re not out for longer than the week. Team needs ya and all that.”

“Thank you. Can’t let you make the team of the week without me all the time can I?”

Now Jamie laughs and the sound lands right in Dani’s chest. “Not a chance, America. Not a bloody chance.”

They’re quiet again and Jamie taps her hand against her leg then purses her lips and looks up at the sky. “So...how was your evenin’ in Manchester? You have a good time?”

The door to the club opens and a large crowd of people piles out at the same time. It’s a combination of all their teammates and people are laughing, singing, and pushing each other about. The wins, for both teams, had definitely been celebrated that night. Maisy spots them against the wall and narrows her eyes wondering what she had just interrupted. 

“Been looking for you everywhere, babes. Can’t just disappear on us like that. We worry about our little Dani,” she says, making her way over to them and she reaches out for Dani’s arm. “Time to go. London’s Calling and we need to answer. I’m desperate for some sleep in a real bed before the bus ride home.”

Dani looks at Jamie and offers her a smile then pushes herself off the wall. Jamie slips her hands back into the pockets of her trousers and gives her a slight nod. “See you ‘round London, Dani.”

Maisy grabs onto her arm and tugs her away from the wall, from the club, and from Jamie. She wants to look over her shoulder at Jamie but she doesn’t and Maisy leans into her body as they walk behind the rest of their teammates in the direction of their hotel. 

“So you made a new friend tonight, hmm?” Maisy says sarcastically. 

“What? No...Jamie and I aren’t - “

“I didn’t mean Jamie, Dani. Christ, you two. I meant the drop-dead gorgeous brunette that we saw you with at the bar.”

Dani’s confused and she stops walking, forcing Maisy to stop as well because of the grip she has on her arm. “You said we saw you. Whose...we?”

“Who do you think, babes? Let’s just say your outfit wasn’t the only thing that made it hard for her to look away.”

“Oh.” The wheels start to turn in Dani’s head and now she chooses to look back over her shoulder but Jamie is gone and so is whatever the hell that moment between them was. 

“I’m Dani Clayton,” Maisy says with her best but absolutely terrible American accent, “I’m only going to focus on football. No distractions. NO Jamie Taylor. I'm so convincing.”

So Jamie had seen her at the bar with Madeline. No big deal. Surely she hadn’t seen anything else though...but so what if she had? Who cares, right? Dani is a single and consenting adult that can do whatever she wants to do and Jamie is also a consenting adult that can do whatever she wants to do. 

“Bloody lesbians,” Maisy says, echoing her words to Jamie earlier in the night. 

It had been a very long day and sure, she didn't get to _actually_ play football during their time in Manchester but the club had won, they had celebrated, and it would certainly be a trip that Dani would never forget. A right proper treat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bloody lesbians.
> 
> ps: sorry but also not sorry that Dani made out with someone else but I did it for ANGST and for her to realize important...things.


End file.
